Be Careful What You Wish For
by x0-vindicated-0x
Summary: When Casey wishes that Derek had never been a part of her life, she gets it. But what happens when she realizes that maybe Derek never had as bad of an effect on her as she thought he did? Dasey
1. A Battle Of Wits

**So I decided to start a chapter fic. It will be AU, as you could probably already get from the summary. Well, for most of it anyway. The characters may be a little bit OOC, more understandably when the circumstances of the situation change, but Ill try to keep them in character as much as possible. Updates should be fairly regular, because its summer, so Ill have more free time. Reviews are greatly appreciated, on what could be improved, or what you like about the story. Anyway, Ill shut up now. On with the fic :) Hope you enjoy. **

**Disclaimer: Nope. Sadly, I don't own any of it. :( **

**Chapter One: A Battle of Wits**

If there was anyone who could ruin even the best of Casey's days, it was Derek Venturi. He knew just how to get under her skin and make her tick. He could take a perfect day, and turn it upside down. And unfortunatly for Casey, today was no exception.

"Stupid Derek and his stupid, idiotic schemes." she mumbled, taking off her sweater and tossing it onto the back of her computer chair. She turned and flung herself onto her bed, burying her face into the pillow. She could hear footsteps coming up the stairs, and she groaned. She knew that Lizzie had just seen her come flying into the house, upset, but she didn't want to deal with anyone right now. She didn't want Derek to have the satisfaction of hearing that she'd been complaining, that he'd gotten to her. But sure enough, two seconds later, there came a knock at her bedroom door and a persistant;

"Casey? Casey, you alright?"

_'Go away.' _she thought desperately. _'Please just go away and leave me alone.'_

But of course, with her luck, no such thing happened. The door opened slowly Lizzie peered nervously into the room. She saw her older sister lying on the bed, facefirst, clearly upset. Lizzie closed the door behind her and crossed the room quietly, sitting on the edge of the bed next to her.

"Casey, you okay?" she asked, concerned. Casey turned over on her back .

"Oh yeah, I'm perfectly fine." she said sarcastically. "I'd be even better if Derek dropped dead, or moved away, or got drafted into the military, or-"

"Alright alright, I get the point." Lizzie interrupted, then paused before speaking again. "What did Derek _do _anyway?"

Casey gave a cold laugh.

"It's _Derek_. What _hasn't _he done?" she said with a roll of the eyes. Lizzie shot her a look as if to say 'be serious here' and Casey sighed. "Oh, you meant as in this time?"

"Obviously."

"Oh, he's just ruining my life as usual." she said , trying to keep her voice calm. "Just taking one more thing thats mine and ripping it apart for his twisted pleasure."

"You know, I don't mean to sound rude, but that doesn't tell me a whole lot." her sister responded. "You're going to have to be a little more specific if you want me to-"

"Max, okay?" Casey finally snapped, her calm tone completely evaporating and being replaced by pure anger. "He practically _ruined _mine and Maxs' relationship."

"How? What did he do?"

"Well Max called for me earlier to let me know that he had to change our date tonight from seven to six, because he had to babysit his sister at eight or something, so he thought it would be best to leave a little bit earlier."

"Alright. So where does Derek come into all this?"

"Im getting there." Casey said. "So Max calls to tell me that and, not only does Derek lie and say that I'm not home, but he 'conveniently' forgot to pass along the message to me after Max was stupid enough to trust him with it in the first place."

"Maybe it was just an accident-" Lizzie tried to reason, but Casey would have no part in it.

"Derek's birth was an accident." she grumbled. "He did this purposely to get Max mad at me."

"How can you be sure about that?" Lizzie asked. "I mean, maybe he really did forget and you're just.. I don't know, jumping to conclusions and assuming the worst in Derek?"

"Please, Liz, you and I both know that Derek did this for his own twisted amusement." she said. "I mean, he knew I was home in the first place, I'd been arguing with him only five minutes before. And I came into the room right after he hung up the phone and asked who had called. He told me it was just some telemarketer. Based on that, I think its fair for me to 'assume the worst in Derek' , as you so kindly put it."

Lizzie was quiet for a moment. Based on what her sister had just said, it was pretty obvious that this had just been Derek being Derek, as usual. And she couldn't really blame Casey for being mad. She sighed. All that she could do now was be comforting, and a good little sister, and hope for the best. She placed a hand on her sisters shoulder.

"Casey, I'm sorry about Max." she said articulately. "But you know, Max probably won't stay mad at you for too long."

"Oh I think he will." Casey said with a bitter smile. ''Derek made sure of that. You see when Max called here at six fifteen wondering where I was, Derek told him that he didn't have a clue where I was. He said that he'd passed along the message from before, and that I'd left about twenty minutes ago, when he knew perfectly well I was up in my room getting ready, since, you know, I thought that the date was at seven o'clock."

"So what happened after that?"

"Well when I showed up at six forty five, Max was already gone." Casey explained. "So I called him on my cellphone to ask where he was. He said he'd gotten a bit fed up waiting for me for forty five minutes and asked me where I could possibly have gone the whole time since, you know, I'd left at five to six. He thought that the only possible solution was that I'd stopped to see someone else along the way."

"Did you tell him, that you didn't know the time had been switched?"

Casey snorted.

"Yeah, and then I was forced to endure five minutes of 'your stepbrother told me he passed along the message, so you had no excuse not to show up'. He wouldn't believe that Derek hadn't told me." Casey said sadly. "I really like him, Liz, and Derek just had to screw it all up. Just like he destroys every other relationship I get myself into. And I'm sick of it."

"Casey, thats just the way Derek is." Lizzie said. "I mean, me and Edwin get on each others nerves all the time too."

"But you and Edwin are fooling around, theres a difference." Casey tried to explain. "Edwin would never do anything to actually hurt your feelings. Apparantly, he doesn't take after his brother. Derek loves seeing me suffer."

"I'm sure he didn't mean for it to turn out like..this.."

Casey sighed. No matter how much she tried explaining herself to anyone, nobody would understand that hers and Derek's relationship was never just about 'annoying each other'. Not with Derek anyway. Their relationship was an ongoing battle, a struggle of wits and payback. And Derek never played fair. There were no limits to how far Derek would go to win one of their asinine little mind games. He'd win, regardless of whether or not anyones feelings were hurt in the process. If there was anything she hated about him, that had to be it. Despite how she couldn't stand him half the time, she couldn't see herself doing something to him that would actually hurt his feelings, not that anything really could. Derek was like a wall, strong, sturdy, and damn near impossible to tear down by any human means. He was rarely affected by anything she said to him, something that made it twenty times harder to even score a point on the revenge board.

All Casey knew was that, no matter how many times she explained it, nobody would understand that Derek just didn't care. He didn't care about anyones feelings but his own, and that was never going to change.

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**Like it? Or hate it? Either way, review and let me know what you thought, what can be improved, what was good, and so on :) There should be an update soon because I already had a bit of this done beforehand. **


	2. Just Another Fight

**Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. That makes me sad, really :( **

**Chapter Two: Just Another Fight**

A half an hour after her talk with Lizzie, Casey was sitting on the couch, staring blankly at the TV. Her mother and George had gone to her Aunt Fionas for an hour or two. They had brought Marti, but Lizzie and Edwin were still home. They were upstairs working on some math project, leaving Casey alone to the living room. She had to admit, it was sort of peaceful to watch TV without Derek there to snatch the remote away from her, or make fun of her for watching soap operas.

But of course, the peace and quiet couldn't last. No more than two seconds after the thought had left her mind, in walked Derek, looking just as arrogant as usual. He was wearing his black leather jacket, like he usually did when he went out on a Saturday night, and his hair was messy, but yet it still managed to look perfect. She hated that about him.

Upon seeing Casey, Derek smirked and wandered across the room, settling himself in the recliner. She could see , out of the corner of her eye, that he was looking at her, waiting for her to make some reference to what had happened earlier, but she didn't speak. She wasn't going to be the one to bring it up. She wasn't going to make it seem like her fight with Max had been on her mind for the past hour. She could still feel his eyes on her, and it became harder and harder to keep her focus on the TV, not on Derek.

Sensing that she wasn't going to be the first to speak, Derek spoke up.

"Have a good date with Max?" he asked, with a knowing smirk on his face. Casey turned to him, shooting him a glare before bringing her focus back to the TV.

"Now now, Casey, its rude to ignore someone when they ask you a question, don't you think?"

"Its also rude not to pass along someone's phone messages." she snapped, turning to face him. "Which you wouldn't have had to do if you had just given me the phone in the first place."

"I had no clue you were even home." Derek said in a fake voice, telling an obvious lie. "You're going to have to learn how to be a little more .. apparant. Hell, there are days I forget you even live here. Of course, some of those times I wake up , disappointed to find it was all a dream, but whatever."

"Can you try to stay on one topic for more than three seconds?" she asked, annoyed. "And whats more, is it possible for you to have an actual conversation without once using an insult?"

"Of course it is." he said, nodding. She glanced at him suspiciously, and that famous smirk found its way back to his features. "Get me a chick then. I don't insult girls."

"_I'm _a girl, in case you hadn't noticed."

"Nope, hadn't noticed." he said, grabbing the remote off the arm of the couch . She mentally slapped herself for keeping it within his reach, and made a grab for it. But of course, Derek was too quick for her, and held it high above his head, until she backed off. Contented, he changed the channel to wrestling, and Casey groaned.

"Oh joy." she said sarcastically. "An hour of watching fat men growl and beat each other senseless."

"I know , isn't it great?" Derek said, eyes never leaving the tv. He reached for the bag of chips on the coffee table and placed the open bag on his lap . Casey stared at him in amazement.

"You have absolutely no regard for peoples feelings , do you, Derek?" she asked, and he grunted. "God, I always figured there must be an ounce of decency in you somewhere, but I have to say, I'm really starting to doubt it, after that stunt you pulled tonight."

"Shut up, Spacey, I'm trying to watch something here." he dismissed, waving his hand at her carelessly. Her eyes widened at his immaturity, and, taking advantage of the fact that he wasn't looking, she reached over and snatched the remote out of his lap, switching the TV off.

"Hey!" Derek said, sitting up, the bag of chips falling to the floor. "Come on, I was watching that!"

"And I'm trying to have a civil conversation with you here." she said, holding the remote behind her back. "And since you're so simple minded that your brain can only focus on one task at a time, the TV is going to have to go until I get some answers out of you."

"I don't 'do' civil, got it, Casey?" he said, making another grab for the remote. "Come on, would you just put the damn TV back on already?"

"Not until you tell me why you always have to do this."

"Do what? Yell at you?" he asked, feigning dumb. "Maybe because you took away my damn wrestling!"

"Derek, you know perfectly well what I mean, so stop playing stupid." she said angrily. "I want to know why you always have to wreck everything thats good in my life, especially when it comes to relationships."

"Because you're my stepsister, its my job. There. Answers. Now turn the TV back on."

"Thats not good enough, Derek." she said, and he rolled his eyes.

"Of course its not. Nothings good enough for Saint Casey."

"Derek, can you please be serious for like, maybe two seconds?" she cried. "Is that so hard?"

"God, Casey, it was just a joke, chill out." he said. "Im sure Max isn't that mad."

"Max isn't that mad?" she repeated, anger building up more and more by the second. "Max is _very _mad, Derek. Max doesn't even want to talk to me right now, because of you. He waited for a half an hour by himself at that restaurant, looking like a complete idiot, and whats more, he thinks its because I either don't care, or that I'd stopped to see someone else along the way. The option of my stepbrothers the worlds biggest idiot doesn't seem to register as a possible option to him."

"Ah, Case, come on, Edwin isn't that bad."

"I meant you, moron." she said, unnecessarily, as he was entirely aware of who she was talking about. "I honestly don't see how anyone sees anything in you, Derek Venturi. You're an arrogant, egotistical, selfish womanizer, and you don't care about anybody but yourself. As long as you're happy, you don't care who gets hurt."

For a moment, Derek actually seemed taken aback, and a bit shocked by her words, almost as if he didn't realize that she felt that way about him. She studied him carefully for a moment. He seemed.. hurt? But no, Derek Venturi wasn't phased by anyone, especially his stepsister. She blinked and when she looked back at him, the look was gone, and it was replaced by his usual 'I don't give a damn' attitude.

"Whatever, Spacey. Just shut up and let me watch TV, would you?" he said, but his voice wasn't angry or mocking this time, it was almost as if he was dismissing the topic, making it clear that he wasn't going to discuss it further.

Knowing the conversation was over, Casey stood up, tossing the remote angrily at Derek. It hit him square in the chest, but he didn't even wince. He just picked it up and turned the TV back on, turning his attention instantly back to the wrestling match. She rolled her eyes.

"Fine, Derek." she said, trying to keep calm. "Just fine. Ignore everything I have to say to you. I can only hope that one day youll grow up and realize that you can't always get what you want. Maybe then you'll show a bit of respect for other peoples feelings. Until then just.. leave me alone. You've got your life and I've got mine. Lets keep it that way."

"Fine." he said coldly, not looking away from the TV.

Rolling her eyes again, she stormed past Derek, and grabbed her coat off of the coatrack. She slipped into it and grabbed her purse off of the floor next to the door.

"Alright, where are you going?" Derek asked as she put her hand on the doorknob. She turned around and glared at him.

"I'm not quite sure, but as long as it doesn't involve you, I'm perfectly happy."

Not giving him a chance to respond, she flung open the door and stepped outside into the calm spring air, slamming the door behind her. She could've sworn she heard a voice on the other side of the door telling her to wait, but she couldn't be quite sure. And, at the moment, she didn't care.

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**Chapter three should be up soon because it just needs to be edited. I had a bit of this done before so thats why. But anyway, review and let me know your thoughts on whether or not you like it, and why :) Expect an update soon. **


	3. Harsh Words

**Here is the third chapter. Sorry I never had it up yesterday but I was barely home :) Anyway, read and enjoy, and again, PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, except the character Sammy. **

**Chapter Three: Harsh Words**

As Casey walked aimlessly down the street, she contemplated calling Max to try and talk things out. She knew that he probably wasn't mad anymore. They got into little fights like this all of the time. More than often, they were a result of something Derek had said or done to put her in a bad mood. But they always made up. It worried Casey that the fighting happened all the time. Hadn't that been what went wrong in hers and Sams relationship? They had been perfectly fine, until the fighting had started. From then on everything turned into a fight, until they had cracked and broken up. She didn't want to let that happen this time, not with Max. So, flipping open her cellphone, she dialed in Maxs' number and waited while it rang through a couple of times. Finally a little girl picked up the phone.

"Hey, Sammy." Casey said to Maxs' nine year old sister. "Is Max around?"

"Hey, Casey. He's here, just a second."

Casey heard the unmistakeable sound of the phone being placed down on a surface, before Maxs' name was called. A moment later, Max answered.

"Max its me." she said, walking down the road more slowly now. "I wanted to talk to you about what happened earlier."

"Yeah, I called your house about five minutes ago actually." Max admitted, and Casey felt hopeful at this. "Your stepbrother said you were gone out."

"Yeah I needed some air, you know? Just a little time to think."

She sat down on the curb before taking a deep breath and asking the question that she had called to ask;

"Max, are you still mad at me?" she asked, closing her eyes as she waited for his answer. "I can honestly say that I didn't know I was supposed to meet you at seven. Derek didn't tell me. I just got into a huge fight with him about it. That was why I left.. well , sort of."

"Casey, it's fine." he assured her, and she felt relief flood through her. "I'm not going to stay mad at you over something that wasn't your fault. That wouldn't be fair."

"Thanks for understanding. Its just that Derek, he-"

"You didn't let me finish." he said, and Casey suddenly grew worried again. Max took a deep breath. "Im not mad at you, alright? But I'd like to take a bit of a break from each other."

"Wh-What? A break? Wait, why?" she stammered, totally lost.

"Because I really like you, and if we keep fighting like this, we're going to end up breaking up entirely, and I don't want that." he explained. Despite the hurt that had just pierced through her, her mind acknowledged that, give or take a few words, that had been almost the exact same thing she had said to Sam when they broke up. Except instead of taking a break, they had actually broken up.

"But .. I don't think a break is really the answer to anything here." she said, trying desperately to get him to change his mind. "I already told you, tonight was an accident , I -"

"Look, to be honest, I've been thinking about doing this for about a week now, alright?" he admitted, and she felt her heart drop. "Theres a few things that have been bugging me lately. About .. well, you."

"Such as?" she asked, unable to keep a cold edge from her voice as she spoke.

"You're always complaining about Derek, for starters." Max said, and Casey felt herself blush. "I don't think theres a time we've gone out that you haven't been complaining about something Derek's done, or something Derek said-"

"Well its not my fault I got such an immature stepbrother." Casey cried in exasperation. "Derek purposely goes out of his way to make my life a living hell. Like tonight."

"There you go again, see?" Max said, but his tone remained calm. He gave a small laugh. "Look, Case, I get it, you and Derek don't like each other. But you don't have to take it out on me."

"Take it out on.. wait, what? What do you mean, 'take it out on you'?"

"I don't know its just, when you're mad at Derek-"

"Which is always." Casey interjected, but he continued as though he hadn't heard her.

"-it puts you in a bad mood for the rest of the day, and it really gets annoying. You snap at me half of the time. Im not even sure if you realize you're doing it, but.. you do."

"I didn't exactly realize.."

"It's fine. Besides, even when you're not complaining about Derek, we've been fighting. Its happened lately, and I really think if we want to keep the relationship going, we're going to have to cool it for a little while. You know, have a bit of breathing space."

"If..if thats what you feel is best.."

"Its for the best, really it is." Max assured her, before saying goodbye and hanging up. Casey wandered over to a nearby park bench and sat down, too confused to go any further.

It was taking all of her willpower not to break down at that very second and cry. Whether it was angry tears, or heartbreak tears, she couldn't decide. Half of her wanted to run back to her house then and there and slap Derek. He'd found a way to ruin yet another relationship, and he hadn't even been there. The other half of her wanted to go over to Emilys and rant about what idiots guys were while pigging out on ice cream and watching chick flicks. Both sounded equally rewarding, but she knew neither would help her out of her current situation. She was still debating what to do and where to go when her cellphone rang again. She looked at the screen on the front. 'Derek' was flashing across it. She rolled her eyes and hit ignore. If there was one person she didn't want to talk to right now, it was him. He was like a curse. Everytime she thought about him, talked about him, or went near him, she'd end up angry or upset. And she couldn't afford to be anymore upset right now.

Moments later, it rang again. Seeing Derek's name on the screen again, she flipped the phone open and hit 'Talk' angrily.

"What do you want?" she snapped. "I left there to get away from you!"

"Cool it, Captain Flip Out." Derek said, but for some reason, Casey couldn't hear the usual arrogance in his voice. "I just talked to my Dad. They're coming home soon."

"That requires you calling me .. because.. "

"Well I thought I'd give you a bit of a warning." he said in an obvious tone. "We were supposed to be babysitting together, remember? And you left."

"And you were gone for the first part of the night." she reminded him. "I did my fair share of babysitting."

"It doesn't matter what you did." Derek said. "If we both aren't here when our parents get home, they're going to think you were gone out the whole time."

"But I wasn't." she said, knowing perfectly well that her parents wouldn't mind if she had gone out for twenty minutes. She babysat a lot more than Derek did. She deserved a break every now and then. "I was there for the first hour and a half of babysitting, and they can't say any differently."

"Oh but I can." Derek smirked. "For all they know, I've been here for the past two hours, watching Edwin and Lizzie while you were off who knows where-"

"Derek, you are such a jerk sometimes, you know that, right?" she cried. A girl walking along the trail with her boyfriend looked back at her, but Casey ignored her. "You find a way to ruin everything! You ruined my date with Max, correction, you ruined my relationship with Max, and now you won't even let me have a half an hour of breathing space."

"Alright, Casey, I highly doubt I 'ruined' your relationship with Max." Derek said, laughing. "I think you're taking the drama queen act a bit too far."

"And I think you take everything too far!" Casey cried. "Max and I broke up, Derek."

"You broke up?" Derek repeated, not laughing anymore. Casey couldn't put her finger on the emotion in his voice. It wasn't remorse, it wasn't even apologetic. She couldn't figure it out.

"We're on a break, what's the difference?"

"Theres a difference." he mumbled, and he almost sounded disappointed. She rolled her eyes.

"Geez, Derek, I thought that maybe , for once, you could have just a little bit of sympathy for me, maybe even a bit of remorse for your own actions, but I guess I was wrong. I guess I expected too much of you."

"All I said was that there was a difference, Casey, stop overreacting."

"You don't need to sound so .. put out that we never actually broke up." she pointed out. "Is it that hard to see me happy?"

"It's hard to see you _period_." he grumbled.

"Whatever, Derek." she snapped. "It's impossible to even have a civil conversation with you."

"I didn't mean it.. _that _way." he said slowly. "I never meant it as an insult."

"Sure you never." she said sarcastically. "And you're not the worlds biggest idiot. And I completely forgive you for what you did earlier. And I don't hate you. And Im not going to hang up on you right now."

"Casey,"

"Seriously, Derek." she said, shaking her head blankly. "Sometimes I just wish..."

"Wish what?" he urged.

"Sometimes I wish I'd never met you," she got out, and he was completely silent on the other line. "Sometimes I wish my Mom never met your Dad at all."

She waited a moment, and when he still didn't answer, she flipped her phone shut and put it in her pocket. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the back of the bench, taking a deep breath. She had to go back now, she knew that. If her parents were coming home, Derek would definitly tell them he'd stuck her with all the work, just to get her mad.

Grumbling to herself about Derek, she stood up stuck her hands in her pocket, going back in the direction she had come from. Like it or not, she had to go back and face Derek. And whether it happened as soon as she got home, or in an hour, or even if it didn't happen until tomorrow, she knew there would be another fight. There was always another fight.

It was just the way it worked with them.

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**Let me know what you thought :)**


	4. Just Another Prank?

**Kay, so I'm pretty sure Casey comes off as a little bit clueless in this chapter. This one is short, well shorter than the rest of them, but it was sort of just a transition chapter, I needed a way to go into the next one, but I hope you like it anyway. To those of you reviewing, thank you, to those of you who aren't, review please, it makes my day :) **

**Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. Don't rub it in. :(**

When Casey walked up her driveway , she was relieved to see that she had beat her parents home. Now Derek wouldn't be able to lie to get her into trouble. As she walked up the pathway towards the door, she happened to glance over at the side of the house, and realize that Lizzie's bike wasn't there anymore. She raised an eyebrow. Derek had let Lizzie go out at ten o'clock, on a bike ride?

_'What an idiot' _she thought to herself. She had assumed that even Derek had the common sense not to let a twelve year old girl go out at ten o'clock at night on a bike ride. Sighing and making a mental note never to leave the kids with Derek again, she tried the front door. It was locked. She rolled her eyes at Derek's immaturity, and unzipped her purse, rifling through it for her set of keys.

"What the hell?" she muttered under her breath. Her keys weren't there. She could've sworn she had put them in there when she had gotten back from the restaurant earlier. She never just tossed them aside when she got home. She always made sure they were right back where they came from. She checked again, but they were gone. Her first thought was that Derek might have taken them out for a laugh, but then it occured to her that Derek had been in her sight the whole time that he'd been home. This was one thing she couldn't blame Derek for. She considered knocking on the door to get Derek to unlock it, but she knew he'd just laugh and ignore. her. So instead, she decided she'd try and find her keys.

She retraced her steps a bit, walking back down to the foot of the driveway, where she remembered that she had opened her purse when she was leaving the house to make sure she had her cellphone. She was walking back down the sidewalk, hair pulled back over her shoulder as she scanned the ground, when she heard a voice in front of her;

"Looking for something?"

She jumped , startled, but relaxed again when she realized it was only Derek. She rolled her eyes and stood up straight.

"My keys, thank you very much." she snapped bitterly. "Which I wouldn't even have to do if _someone _hadn't locked me out."

There was sarcasm lingering in her voice, and Derek raised an eyebrow at her, sticking his hands in his pockets and walking along beside her calmly as she bent down to search for her keys again. She wasn't going to bother asking Derek to let her in. She knew that he'd sit on the front step, his own keys in his pocket, and go on and on about what a lovely evening it was to sit outside, just to annoy her.

"Who locked you out?" he asked casually, and she took a deep breath. She absolutely hated it when he played stupid with her. She knew that he knew perfectly well what she was talking about.

"Im not even going to answer that question." she said, not looking up. She squinted, finding it difficult to see the ground in the dark.

"Alright then." he said , shrugging. "Why'd you leave your keys at home in the first place?"

"I didn't." she said, annoyed. "I'm responsible, unlike some people I can think of. I brought my keys."

"So then why are you looking for them?"

"Because I lost them, obviously. Why else would I be looking for them?" she said, wishing that Derek would just leave her alone already.

"I see." Derek said. He paused for a moment before saying; "Why don't you just call and see if anyone is home?"

She stood up straight then, looking Derek straight in the eye. Thats when it hit her. She folded her arms across her chest suspiciously.

"Wait a second, what the hell are you doing?" she asked, and he looked taken aback.

"I'm uh, talking to you?" he suggested, giving her an odd look. "I thought that much was obvious."

"Don't play stupid, alright?" she snapped. "I'm really not in the mood for it. My night is going badly enough as it is. Now answer my question."

"I already answered your question." he pointed out, looking her in the eye. "Why are you acting so strange?"

"Me? At least I'm not pretending like I don't have a clue what you're talking about."

"I _don't _have a clue what you're talking about, to be quite honest with you." he laughed. "I'm not pretending. Why are you yelling at me?"

"Just forget it, alright?" Casey said to him, in no mood for his childish fighting. Remembering about her sister, she asked; "Where's Lizzie?"

It took him a moment to respond to her question, but when he did, it was only two simple words, that he spoke quite calmly.

"Who's Lizzie?"

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**As I said, Casey is a bit clueless here, but if you were in the same situation, would you really guess the truth? I probably wouldn't. Anyway, please review I'd love to know how you guys think the stories going. :) New chapter up soon :)**


	5. When Wishes Come True

**This chapter is actually a bit longer than the rest, or at least I thought so, but I'm hoping it makes up for the last chapter, which, unfortunatly, was dreadfully short because it was sort of a transition into this one. Thanks to those of you reviewing, and if you aren't reviewing, please take a second to do so, even if it's just love it or hate it. I really love hearing what the readers think of the story. Improvements? Things you liked? Helpful criticism? Also, I changed the spelling of their last name from the first chapter, becasue I'm thinking it's Mac instead of Mc ? For Casey and Lizzie? If anyone knows this for sure, let me know. Anyway, heres the chapter! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing in this chapter either. Wow, so far all I've owned is one thing. That makes me feel so.. little, lol. **

Casey stood up slowly, her eyes narrowed at Derek. He was getting just a little too childish for her liking now. She knew that he loved playing dumb with her, that he loved acting like he didn't have a clue what she was talking about, but this was a bit too much. She glared at him.

"Don't play dumb, alright?" she said, folding her arms across her chest angrily. He stared at her, emotionless, and she rolled her eyes. "Oh my god, would you quit it? You know what I'm talking about."

"Clearly, I don't." he said, looking at her as though she'd gone mental. "I really don't know what you're talking about. Who the hell is Lizzie?"

Casey stared at him in disbelief. The wind was ruffling his hair and there was no hint of a smirk on his face, like there usually was when he was pulling a prank on her. She shook her head. He had to be playing some sort of joke. She knew he was stupid, but she also knew that he was at least smart enough to know the name of someone who had been living in the same house as him for over a year.

"This is getting ridiculous," she said. "I'm talking about Lizzie."

His face showed no sign of recognition.

"Lizzie MacDonald."

He blinked at her calmly.

"My sister?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know your sister?" he asked, throwing his hands in the air, as though he was frustrated with the whole thing. Casey was about to answer him when she saw a car coming up the road, heading towards their driveway. Studying it for a moment, she recognized it as her stepfather's car. She sighed with relief. Her parents were home. They'd let her in the house, and Derek would hopefully put a stop to his stupid little joke. Derek turned to watch the car pulling into the driveway. He turned away, running a hand through his hair, and rolled his eyes. Casey had no clue why he'd do that. It was just their parents after all. He was probably just mad because he couldn't carry on with his little joke anymore.

"Thank god." she muttered under her breath as the car pulled to a stop, and, a moment later, shut off. Derek shot her a strange look, before looking over his shoulder at his father. He sighed deeply as his father stepped out of the car. He wandered over to the edge of the lawn and Casey, without really thinking, followed him. She waited for her mother to get out on the other side, but she never. George, upon spotting Derek and Casey standing on the edge of the lawn, spoke up;

"Derek, you should probably come in now."

In the faint streetlight, Casey could see a slight blush creep onto Derek's face, and he grimaced. She wondered vaguely why George hadn't told her to come in too. After all , her and Derek usually had to be in around the same time, unless they got explicit permission from one of their parents to stay out later. As she thought this, she wondered again where her mother was. Maybe she had stayed at Fiona's for the night. Sometimes her aunt would get into a bit of a fight with Harry, and Nora would spend the whole night comforting her. But as far as Casey had been concerned, they had just gone for a visit, not because anything serious had been going on. She was about to ask where her mother was, when Derek spoke up again.

"Dad, I'm sixteen, not six, alright?" he snapped. "And can't you see I'm having a conversation here?"

Casey was about to tell him that their conversation was over, as far as she was concerned. If she had been mad at him before, she was furious with him now. But before she got a chance to speak, her stepfather spoke up again, but this time, to Casey.

"Sorry, my son doesn't really like it when I interfere with one of his dates."

"His _what?" _Casey cried, nearly choking on her own words. She couldn't believe the words that had just come out of her stepfather's mouth.

"Shes not my date, Dad." Derek said quickly. If he had been blushing before, it was nothing compared to the color of his face now. "I just met her."

"You _what_?" Casey got out, looking back and forth between the two of them, as though they were both crazy. "You.. we .. I .. I'm your.. "

"Daddy!" came a voice from the front porch, and the three of them looked up to see Marti standing on the front porch, in her pajamas, waving to her father. When her father smiled at her, Marti ran towards him, jumping up into his arms. Casey relaxed a tiny bit. Marti. Her stepsister Marti. At least there was something normal about this whole thing.

"Are you Smerek's girlfriend?"

Or not. Casey shook her head. None of this made any sense whatsoever. Why was more than half of her stepfamily acting as though they had no clue who she was? She could understand Derek doing it, to get a rise out of her, or to make fun of her later for believing it. But George? And Marti?

Thats when it hit Casey. Marti had gone to her Aunt Fiona's with George and her mother. Marti had left, two hours before. Casey had seen her get into the car and leave. And yet here she was, running out of the house to greet her father as if she hadn't gone anywhere in the first place . She knew there had to be a logical explanation to all of this. Marti couldn't be in two places at once. It was physically impossible. The only thing she could think of was that they were all playing a joke on her. That had to be it. Casey was so lost in thought that she barely noticed all three of the Venturis were looking at her, waiting for an answer.

_'Fine.' _she thought to herself angrily. _'They want to play a joke on me, I'm going to right along with it. I won't let it bug me.' _

"Um no, I'm not 'Smerek's' girlfriend." she replied.

"You're pretty." Marti said shyly, with a smile. Casey gave a small, forced smile. If this _was_a prank set up by her whole family, she had to admit, they were pretty good actors.

Casey couldn't think of anything to say, so she remained silent. George looked from Derek to Casey before speaking again.

"Alright, I'm going to take Marti on up to bed." he said. "It was nice meeting you, um-"

"Casey," she got out, trying hard not to laugh. Just how big of an idiot did her family think she was? "Casey MacDonald."

George extended a hand and Casey shook it, rolling her eyes when he wasn't looking. This was actually sort of amusing. Marti waved goodbye to Casey and Derek as George carried her up the steps, and through the front door, closing it behind him. Casey turned back to Derek, who spoke up;

"So it's Casey huh?" he smirked.

"Yeah, and you must be.. 'Smerek' ?"

Derek looked slightly embarassed, but gave a dismissive laugh.

"It's just a nickname my little sister has got for me." he explained, then put out a hand. "The names Derek; Derek Venturi."

Casey rolled her eyes and gave an annoyed sigh. This was getting a little bit too weird now. Her family couldn't expect her to be that thick. She was the smart one, after all.

"I know your name." she said pointedly. "Can you cut the crap already, Derek?"

His eyes were wide as he pulled his hand away, and ran it through his hair. He took a deep breath and Casey watched him intently, waiting for him to speak again.

"I honestly think you are the most difficult person to get along with that I have _ever_ met." he said with a slight laugh. He scratched his head , apparantly thinking hard. "But it's cool, I guess. It's sort of amusing."

Casey stared at him incredulously. She couldn't believe that he was still milking it. He had to know that she had caught on to whatever joke he was playing. She'd even told him to stop fooling around. But of course, this was Derek. He never knew when to quit, never recognized when to accept defeat. So she'd just have to find a flaw that he'd overlooked when he had planned his stupid little scheme. And she knew just how to do it.

"Would I be able to use your phone?" she asked, feigning politeness. She put on her best 'sweet smile'. "I need to call my mom and get her to pick me up; my cellphones dead."

She expected him to make up some lame excuse and say that she couldn't use the phone. After all, letting her into the house would basically be giving her access to a place that practically proved that she had an exsistance in the Venturi household. So she was pretty shocked when he gave her a smirk, and nodded his head.

"No problem." he said, and she followed him into the house. She sighed as she entered her house. Either way, she was inside again now. She just hoped that Derek would give up on the second half of his joke soon. She looked around the living room carefully. Everything looked almost the same. She could swear that a couple of things were out of place, but she couldn't put her finger on what exactly they were. Derek turned to her as he tossed his black leather jacket onto the coat hook.

"I'll go grab the phone for you." he said, walking backwards towards the kitchen. "Just wait here for a second."

"Would you mind if I used your bathroom?" she asked , with every intention of going on upstairs anyway. This was her damn house too, she'd do as she pleased. But, much to her surprise, he nodded again.

"Do you need me to show you where it is?"

Casey nearly collapsed then. She knew now that this HAD to be a joke. Derek being polite, and acting like a civil human being. These sorts of things only ever happened in dreams, or because he wanted something. And right now, that something was getting a rise out of Casey. She forced a smile onto her face.

"I think I can find it just fine, thank you." she said, and kicked off her shoes. She laid her purse and jacket down next to the door, before darting up the stairs. She had no intention of going to the bathroom whatsoever. Instead, she wandered towards her own bedroom, still laughing to herself as she shrugged out of her sweater.

"Just how stupid do they think I am?" she said to herself. "Acting as if they don't know me. Please. How thick can you-"

She stopped dead as she threw open her bedroom door. She froze in the doorway. This was most definitly NOT her bedroom. The walls were a beigeish color, and the room had a red theme to it. Instead of her colorful patterned bedset, there was a plaid red quilt covering the bed, which had a wooden headboard as opposed to the usual patterned one that usually stood there. The dresser that now stood on the opposite side of the room had miraculously changed to mahaogony since she'd last been in here, and the pictures on the wall were of family, none of them, she noticed, including the MacDonalds. She felt her breathing hitch for a moment, before she pulled the door closed and darted towards Lizzies room. She swung that door open too, only to find the same occurance in that bedroom. The walls were blue instead of orange. There were pictures of cars and bands instead of the usual girly posters that Lizzie had. The room was no longer neat and tidy, but now rather resembled Derek's. She closed that door too and pressed herself up against the wall, breathing heavily, her mind racing frantically.

_'Think, Casey, think.' _she instructed herself, trying her best to remain calm. '_There's got to be a logical explanation for all of this.' _

But she knew perfectly well that there was absolutely nothing logical about coming home to find your keys missing after you knew that they had been there. There was nothing normal about your family not having a clue who you were. And there was definitly nothing normal about having your bedroom, and your sister's bedroom, disappear. Derek was good, she'd admit that. It was amazing sometimes, the things he came up with when he pranked people. Yes, he was good, but he wasn't _this_ good. He couldn't have rearranged , redecorated, and painted , two bedrooms in the half an hour she'd been gone. God, her bedroom looked like something a father would sleep in. And Lizzie's room, well it looked a lot like.. in fact .. it had all the same stuff as ..

Thats when it hit her. Before the MacDonalds had moved in, her bedroom had been George's, after Nora and George had moved downstairs to the basement. Lizzie's current room had been Edwin's. It was as if everything had gone back to the way it was before the MacDonalds and the Venturis had merged. It was as though her family was in no way connected with the Venturis anymore. Suddenly, her words from earlier came floating through her mind.

_"Sometimes I wish I'd never met you."_

Casey froze, remembering her next words.

_"Sometimes I wish my Mom never met your Dad at all." _

It was impossible. It couldn't happen. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, shaking her head. This wasn't happening. Just because she wished something, didn't mean it would happen. She couldn't change things that had already happened, just by wishing for them. She opened Lizzie's bedroom door a crack again, and peered in. It was the same as it had been a moment before.

She slumped down onto the door, hands pressed against her face.

"No way." she whispered to herself.

She'd made a wish and, for whatever reason she couldn't understand, it had come true. Somehow, she'd prevented her mother from meeting George in the first place.Somehow, she'd just changed the course of her life- and the lives of both the Venturis and the MacDonalds, forever.

* * *

**Alright, so Casey was sort of in strong denial of the situation until the end, as you could tell. But I guess, if you realistically put yourself into that situation, the last thing you'd guess would be that a wish like that actually came true. So what did you think? Like it? Hate it? Either way, leave a review and let me know what you think! Please! Oh, and new chapter should be up tomorrow, but itll go quicker with more reviews ;) hint hint cause I have been staying a couple chapters ahead of what I'm posting, or trying to anyway .**


	6. A Confusing Situation

**Alright, so I'm pretty sure that this is the longest chapter posted yet, but I'm sure nobody will complain about a chapter being too long. Well I wouldn't anyway. Oh, and I'm only guessing that the Venturis live in London, Ontario, and I have no clue how far that is from Toronto but we're going to pretend it's not too far. Sorry to anyone who lives there, I just don't know the difference! Don't kill me :) So read the chapter, and enjoy. Thank you to everyone reviewing, please continue to do so, and those of you who haven't been reviewing, please do so, it only takes a second and it makes me very happy :) it's motivating. Anyway, on with chapter six.**

**Disclaimer: You think after saying this enough times, people would get the point, but ah well. I own nothing except the character Terra. I don't own the places named or anything. Just the plot of this story and Terra. :)**

**Chapter Six: A Confusing Situation**

"Casey, you alright up there?" a voice floated up the stairs a moment later. She recognized the voice as Derek's, and lifted her head out of her hands slowly.

Alright? _Alright_? She was far from alright. She'd just came home to realize that her whole life had changed within half an hour. Her stepfamily didn't have a clue who she was, her home wasn't really her home, she could make a fair guess that her friends wouldn't have a clue who she was, and she had no clue where she was supposed to go from there. She had no clue how any of this had even happened. You couldn't just, make a wish, and have it happen. Life was never that simple. But nonetheless, here she was, in the home she had been calling her own for over a year now, being looked at as a stranger by the people she called family. Derek's voice snapped her out of her thoughts again.

"Did you find the bathroom alright?"

She scrambled to her feet and ran her hand through her hair, trying to regain some composure. Normal. Normal. She needed to act normal. She had already acted like a complete whackjob in front of Derek, George and Marti; the last thing she needed was for them to think she was having some sort of nervous breakdown, which, she had to admit, she rather felt she was on the verge of. This was a little too much to handle.

"Yeah I uh - I found it just fine." she lied, and made her way down the stairs again. She stopped on the bottom step, and looked around the living room. Now that she knew what she was looking for, the changes were easy to spot. Any pictures that had included the MacDonalds had disappeared. A few of the ornaments and decorations that had once belonged to them were missing. She could only guess that this was what the Venturi house had looked like before the two families had merged. Essentially, it looked the same, with the exception of a bit more clutter than usual .

She snapped out of the trance as Derek handed her the black cordless phone. She stared at the object in her hand for a moment. The phone? Why did she need the phone? Then she remembered. She had asked Derek to get it for her. Well this was just great. Who the hell was she supposed to call? Her mother? What would she say? ;

_''Hi Mom. It's me, Casey. Just thought I should let you know I'm fine. I'm at the house of the husband you never met, and the stepkids you never had. Come pick me up?" _

She shook her head. She knew that she couldn't mention what was happening to anyone, especially her mother. Everybody would think that she was going mental , and really, Casey couldn't completely rule out the possibility. This wasn't exactly a normal situation to be in.

Derek was watching her intently, waiting for her to do something. Thats when she realized that she had been standing with the phone in her hand for the past minute, doing nothing but staring into space. She sighed. She knew she had to call someone. Standing in the Venturis house looking like a complete fool surely wasn't helping anything. Taking a deep breath she dialed in the number of her old house. She could only assume that she'd find her mother or Lizzie there. If the wish really had worked, it would make sense that her current home would be her old one, back in Toronto. She tapped her fingers nervously against the bannister as the phone rang once, twice, three times. Finally, she heard someone pick up, and she was relieved to hear the voice of her younger sister.

"Liz?" Casey said, praying that someone would know who she was. She felt relief wash through her when Lizzie replied;

"Case. Where are you?"

Casey didn't know exactly how to answer that question. Home? At our stepfather's house? But she merely settled for;

"Uh, London. Is Mom around?"

"Who do you know in London?" Lizzie asked, bewildered.

"Just put Mom on the phone." Casey said persistantly, and Lizzie let out a huff before placing the phone down and calling out for her mother. A moment later, her mother picked up the phone.

"Mom, it's me." Casey said. "Can you uh, come pick me up?"  
"Sure, Case, where are you?" her mother asked. "Terra's?"

_'Who the hell is Terra?' _Casey thought to herself, but shrugged it off. She could only guess that she'd find this out eventually.

"I'm at ho- I mean, I'm at a .. friend's?" she said, unsure of how to describe the situation. She looked up and noticed that Derek had been studying her carefully while she spoke. He smirked at her before looking away, with the arrogant smile she was used to. She felt her stomach drop as she registered something; Derek had been checking her out.

_'Oh dear God.' _she thought to herself, disgusted. _'This night cannot get any worse.' _

"Alright, where are you?" her mother asked, snapping Casey back to the phone conversation. "I'll come and get you."

Casey quickly gave her mother the address, one she knew off by heart. Derek gave her a funny look when she said the address so quickly, so casually, without even thinking about it. She pretended like she didn't see it, and hung up the phone, handing it back to Derek.

"Thank you." she said, grabbing her jacket and purse off of the floor again. She gave a tight lipped smile. "I'll just.. go wait outside."

"I'll come with you." Derek offered immediately. She glanced up at him and he rushed into an explanation. "After all , it will probably take your mother a little while to get here, and it's late. You shouldn't be out there by yourself."

Casey felt as though the world had been completely turned upside down. Derek, with _manners_? This was most definitly not a common occurance in the real world, the world she was used to. But she reminded herself that she was a stranger to Derek. If this were any normal day, where she was his stepsister, he would be praying she'd never come back, not offering to wait with her.

_'Then again-' _she reminded herself; _'If this was any normal day where I was his stepsister, I wouldn't be outside waiting for my Mom to drive me home' ._

She leaned back against the side of the brick wall surrounding the porch. The light was on overhead , lighting up the little space outside the front door. She hadn't noticed that Derek had been watching her with interest for the past minute and a half until she looked up to see him staring at her with a half smile on her face. She straightened up a bit.

"What?" she said, not trying to sound rude, but wondering why he was staring at her. Derek shook his head and gave a gentle laugh.

"Nothing." he responded promptly. "It's just.. you're a strange girl, you know that right?"

"In what way?" she asked, mentally slapping herself. How was that, even with a fresh start, she'd managed to make herself look stupid to Derek within twenty minutes?

"I don't know, you just are." he said dismissively, looking away again, out onto the road. The wind ruffled his hair again as he looked back at her. "So where do you live anyway?"

"Toronto." she replied right away. "It's only a short drive. My Mom should be here soon."

"Oh, I'm not trying to get rid of you." he assured her, smiling slightly. "Not at all, actually. I'm just asking a simple question."

There was silence for a moment, before Derek spoke up again.

"So do you know anyone at Thompson High?" he asked casually, running a hand through his hair. "That's where I go."

"Yeah I know a-" she started, but stopped herself. Mentioning names wouldn't be a good thing to do with Derek . After all, he knew practically everyone at their school. If he happened to mention to someone that she'd been talking about them, she'd probably come off as some sort of stalker. She could only assume that, if her family didn't know her, neither would anyone else she had met within the past year or two.

"No, I don't know anyone." she said, looking away.

"Where do you go?" he said, accepting this answer immediately. "To school, that is."

"It's an all girls private school in Toronto." she said, praying that her mother would come to get her soon. She was a little weirded out by this whole situation, and, quite frankly, she was a bit scared. She had no clue how long this 'alternate life' would last, if it lasted at all. Was it here to stay? Was she going to go through the rest of her life like she had before, living in a perfectly organized home with her mother and her sister? Would the Venturis ever be a part of her life again, or would remain as two seperate families for good now? Somehow, the thought didn't make her as happy as she thought it would.

But one by one, things that she had resented about the Venturis started floating through her mind. There would be no more having to practically wait in line for the shower, only to find that Derek had used all of the hot water. No more being stuck babysitting all three of her siblings while Derek snuck out. No more having to put up with Marti's stubborn attitude. No more disorganization. There wouldn't be a wrestling match over the remote or the phone anymore. She could date whoever she wanted, without having to worry about Derek interfering.

She felt almost guilty for thinking these things, but she had no time for guilt. Her mother had just pulled up, and, after she honked the horn, Casey pushed herself up off of the brick wall quickly.

"That's my ride." she said. Derek looked almost disappointed, and she rushed on. "Thanks for everything."

Derek opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, and closed it again. He nodded swiftly.

"Yeah, no problem."

"Well.. bye then." Casey said, turning away and heading towards the car. She looked over her shoulder to see Derek standing with his hands in his jeans pockets, watching her retreating form. When he saw her looking, he gave one final wave before turning and going back into the house, closing the door behind him. Casey felt a chill go through her. She had to wonder whether or not that would be the last time she'd ever see Derek Venturi. This could all be a dream, after all. She could wake up and find out that this whole night hadn't happened; that she hadn't had the fight with Max, or the fight with Derek, that she hadn't made the wish, and that she wasn't on her way back to Toronto right now.

But she had no way of knowing that at the moment. She pulled open her car door and slipped into the passengers seat. Her mother looked over at her, before looking back up at the Venturis house.

"What brought you all the way over to London?" her mother asked, confused. "You don't know anyone in London."

"I uh, I met him tonight." Casey said, not sure if she could consider this a lie or not.

"Him?" Nora repeated, looking a little worried, but it was mixed with a smug smile. "So you met a boy?"

"Oh, Casey's got a boyfriend!" Lizzie laughed from the backseat. Casey looked back. She hadn't even realized that Lizzie had been there in the first place, but she supposed that her mother had been forced to bring her along. There was no one else to watch her now. Casey rolled her eyes, disgusted at the thought of Derek being her boyfriend.

"As if." she said, folding her arms across her chest. "He is _not_ my boyfriend."

"Yet." Lizzie said, half laughing. "Give it a few days; it'll be like every other-"

"Lizzie." her mother warned, and her sister (reluctantly) fell silent once more. Casey's eyes narrowed in confusion. What was that supposed to mean? Before she had a chance to ask, her mother put the car in drive, and they were driving away from the Venturi house. Casey looked over her shoulder, watching the house get smaller and smaller. Finally she couldn't even see it anymore, and she turned around, facing forward once more. Would that the last time she'd ever be in that house, her house? She didn't know, but for now, she would have to go to her current home, and try and figure some things out. Like how the hell this had happened, and where she was supposed to go from here.

* * *

**Alright so I hope you all liked chapter six. It was definitly the longest chapter yet (that I have posted) so, yay! Lets celebrate, with -gasp- reviews!! D Kay, if you didn't pick up on that, please review! Casey's denial is finally over (about time huh?) and she's starting to realize that whats happening is real. Ah well. Anyways, thanks for reading. Review. Expect a new chapter tomorrow :) **


	7. Making Plans

**Heres chapter seven. In response to sydmoonlights comment, about Terra, and about Lizzie's comments about Casey being a flirt, that comes into it later, I assure you. I didn't just randomly stick that in there. The character does come into it eventually and as you see more of Casey's new life, youll see what Lizzie meant :) Thanks for everyone reviewing, I'm glad you are enjoying it. Please keep it up :) So without further ranting, here is the chapter. **

**Disclaimer: Lets play pretend and say I own LWD. Kay, so I don't . I actually own nothing except for the plot, Terra, and Laine. **

**Chapter Seven: Making Plans**

Casey could hear the sound of the TV playing softly somewhere in the house, somewhere outside her bedroom. She snuggled further down into her warm nest of blankets, not wanting to get up just yet. She knew that everything that had happened last night had to have been a dream, and she wanted to make some sense of it. She knew that when she opened her eyes, she'd be back in her bedroom in the MacDonald-Venturi house. She'd wake up to find Lizzie and Edwin doing one of their little research projects, Marti watching Saturday morning cartoons, her Mom and George would be reading the paper at the kitchen table, and Derek would be hogging the shower as usual, if he was even up yet. Yes, everything would be back to normal. She couldn't say for sure how she felt about that. In a way, she wanted everything to be back to normal, so that she could prove to herself that she wasn't crazy. But another part of her would be quite happy staying the way she'd been last night. She wouldn't mind not having to put up with Derek anymore.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, and was amazed to find that she was in the same place where she had fallen asleep the night before. This was her old bedroom. She'd let sleep wash over her so quickly the night before that she hadn't really noticed anything about it. It looked a bit different, understandably. Over a year had passed, after all. Some of the posters and decorations and pictures had changed. But at the moment, she wasn't really interested in exploring her bedroom. With a yawn, she got up out of her bed and started to get ready. She could only assume it was Saturday, like it would have been back in the real world.

Twenty minutes later, she stepped into the hallway, closing her door behind her, and made her way into her old living room, where Lizzie was sitting on the floor by the coffee table, a bowl of cereal in front of her, her eyes glued to the TV. Casey found this to be a little odd. It wasn't that she wasn't used to seeing Lizzie slacking off like this, because she was. But, to her memory, she remembered their old house as being perfectly organized, and that meant eating at the table, not sitting on the floor of the living room. Besides, before they had moved in with the Venturis, Lizzie had usually been gone outside or doing something productful by mid morning, not watching cartoons. She shrugged it off. Lizzie slacking off was on the very bottom of her list of weird things right about now.

She sat down on the couch, trying to tune into whatever Lizzie was watching, when her sisters voice interrupted her focus.

"You've had calls." was all she said, without taking her eyes away from the TV. She scooped up another handful of dry cereal in her hands.

"What was that?" Casey said, looking at the back of Lizzies head.

She popped a few pieces of cereal into her mouth, still not turning to look at Casey.

"Terra called at nine, Laine called at ten, and your boyfriend called ten minutes ago."

"My, uh, boyfriend?" Casey asked, confused. "And that would be?"

"I don't know, the guy from last night." Lizzie shrugged. "Derek, or something."

"Derek?" Casey repeated, wondering vaguely how he'd even gotten her number. "Derek is_ not _my boyfriend, Lizzie. Far from it. Trust me on this."

"Whatever you say, Case." Lizzie said, dismissing the topic and tuning her sister out. Casey stood up and made her way into the kitchen. She picked up the phone, letting her hand hover above the buttons for a moment. Who was she supposed to call first? She didn't even know who the hell Terra and Laine were. How on earth was she supposed to call them?

"Derek it is then." she sighed, dialing in the all too familar number of what had, up until the day before, been her home. The phone rang a couple of times before Derek answered, still sounding half asleep.

_'Typical_' Casey thought to herself, rolling her eyes at her former stepbrother's laziness.

"Hey Derek, it's Casey," she said slowly, finding it quite difficult to be polite to Derek, when all she had known with him before was insults and comebacks. "We uh.. met last night? My sister told me you called."

"Yeah, I did, but she said you were still asleep," he said, and Casey could've sworn she heard Marti laughing about something in the background. She smiled sadly. She missed that kid already. Not a moment later, Derek's voice spoke up, drowning out the background noise entirely.

"I got your number off of my phone, from last night. I'm guessing that the girl who picked up the phone when I called was Lizzie?" Derek said, and Casey was just about to ask how he knew that when he answered the question for her; "She's the one you were asking for last night?"

"Er, yeah." Casey said, blushing. "I, um, wasn't exactly myself last night but I'm good now, I think."

"Well that's good then." Derek said , then took a deep breath. "Look, the reason I called is, I was wondering if you wanted to do something later?"

Casey froze. This was great. This was real great. Derek Venturi was asking her out. What the hell was she supposed to say? 'No, I hate you' ? 'No, you're my stepbrother?' Neither statement would make any sense whatsoever to Derek. She had her reasons, but they were ones that he could never understand unless they were back in reality, where they both had full knowledge of the Venturi-MacDonald family. After a moment, however, she realized that she was jumping to conclusions. Derek hadn't even asked her out on a date. He'd asked her to hang out. But, of course, with Derek, he was so informal that it would be impossible to tell the difference. She cleared her throat, before responding.

"Um, hang out?" she repeated, trying to think of how to phrase what she was about to say. "When you say hang out, do you mean.. as friends, as a-"

"As friends," Derek said right away, and she felt herself relax a bit with the knowledge that she didn't have to make up an excuse to get out of a date with Derek.

'_I never thought that was something that I'd have to worry about' _Casey thought to herself with a shudder. She tried to turn her focus back to the conversation, where Derek was now speaking.

"Me and a few of my friends are going to see a movie this afternoon. My friend and his girlfriend are going so, understandably, it's going to be a bit akward if it's just me there. I can't stand being a third wheel to a date. Well, this other guy, Sheldon, is going but.. "

_'Derek hangs out with Sheldon?' _Casey thought to herself, trying to keep herself from laughing. Sheldon annoyed Derek to no end, and now, in this crazy, upside down universe, they were frends? And Sam had a girlfriend? She could only assume that the 'friend' to which Derek was referring to was Sam, after all. Who else would it be? She vaguely wondered who his girlfriend was, but shrugged it off. She'd find out later.

"So what do you think?" Derek asked her, snapping her out of her thoughts. "You want to come along?"

"Don't think I'm saying no, because I'm not," Casey said slowly, and Derek remained silent. "But why are you asking me? We just met yesterday and I got the impression that, well, that I didn't make a great first impression on you. I thought I came off as a little, uh.."

"Crazy?" Derek suggested a little too willingly.

"Thanks." she deadpanned, blushing. So she really _had _made a bad first impression on Derek. She didn't really care, but she hated how, in both lives, she had managed to look like an idiot to Derek Venturi.

"I never said that was a bad thing." Derek assured her immediately. "Trust me , it's not. You seem like a pretty cool person to hang around with. A little psychotic maybe, but cool."

"Psychoti,." she repeated. "Very nice. That's charming."

"Who said I was trying to charm you?" Derek asked, and Casey could just picture the smirk on his face as he said it. It was one that she had seen way too many times for her liking.

"Whatever." she said, rolling her eyes, and secretly wondering if Derek called up every new girl he met.

"So what will it be?'' Derek asked finally. "You going to come?"

Casey took a deep breath, thinking this over in her mind. Spending the afternoon with Derek wasn't exactly her idea of fun. How was it that, in both worlds, she ended up having to put up with Derek? Her mind , the part that was thinking maybe a bit too instinctively, was screaming at her to say no. This wish was her chance to get Derek out of her life forever. She didn't understand why he was still even there. The first part of her wish had been to never meet Derek in the first place, hadn't it? But she knew that stumbling upon him had been her own doing, and it had taken place after the wish. But it wasn't too late to get rid of him. She could say no to him now and hope that he would leave her alone. If her time in her old life was only limited, after all, she wanted to make every last moment possible 'Derek-free' . But another, larger part of her, wanted to go for the pure and simple satisfaction of finding out things about Derek that he'd never normally tell her. She could see what he acted like when she wasn't around. She could find out what made him tick and, if she ever returned to her normal life, use it against him later. Besides, it would be good to see Sam, if that was who was going to the movie. So, pushing aside the part of her that wanted to say no, she spoke up again, this time with an answer at hand.

"Sure, I'll see you there," she said, knowing that a part of her would probably regret this. "Where do I meet you?"

"Mall. Two thirty. In the food court." Derek said quickly, sounding overly relieved that she had said yes. "I'll see you then."

She hung up the phone and glanced at her watch. Eleven fifteen. She had a little over three hours to get ready to meet Derek and his friends at the mall. She smirked to herself. This was definitly going to be an entertaining afternoon.

* * *

**Kay, so theres chapter seven. Not quite sure how I feel about it but nonetheless, it is what it is I suppose :) As I said, the characters you guys don't recognize DO come into it eventually, and you will learn a lot more about Casey's new life. Soon, but not yet:) Anyways please keep on reviewing, even if it's just 'love it' or 'hate it' . I love hearing feedback from you guys! Expect a new chapter soon :) **


	8. Unusual Pairings and Akward Moments

**So here it is people :) Chapter eight. It's a bit longer -claps hands- so I hope you enjoy. I'm not too sure if I like this chapter but oh well, enjoy anyway! Thats just me being picky. :) I'm enjoying writing this story, and also reading the reviews you guys submit, so keep reviewing. And if you haven't reviewed yet, please do so. Thankss :) **

**Disclaimer: I'm putting a good bet on ; at the end of this story, Ill still own just as much as I did in the beginning. Absolutely nothing. Therefore, this seems vaguely pointless to me. Ah well. **

**Chapter Eight: Unusual Pairings and Akward Moments**

At around two fifteen, Casey aked Nora to drive her to the mall.

"Who is it you're going with anyway?" Nora asked as they pulled up to a red light. Out of the corner of her eye, Casey could see Lizzie in the backseat, with a knowing smirk on her face. She ignored this and asnwered her mother's question.

"Um, Derek." she said quickly, not looking at her mother. "The guy from last night."

She ignored her mother's triumphant smile, and pretended like she never saw it.

"So is this a date?" her mother asked, almost teasingly.

Casey rolled her eyes. She hated that she was the only one who knew why she didn't like, or couldn't like Derek. He was her stepbrother. Well, normally he was. And besides, she couldn't stand Derek. But of course, if she said that, she'd get a lecture from her mother on not judging people before you get a chance to know them. She knew Derek, of course. She knew him very well, but she couldn't say that. So she settled for saying;

"No, Mom. It's not a date. His friends are going too."

Her mother didn't press the topic further, perhaps sensing that Casey wasn't enjoying this conversation. In fact, she remained deathly silent until they reached the mall, and Casey got out of the car outside the front entrance. She kept one hand on the door and crouched down to hear what her mother was saying;

"Call me if you need a ride home." Nora said, and Casey nodded. "Either way, be home by five. You've got to babysit Lizzie."

"Alright, fine." Casey said, before waving goodbye to both Lizzie and her mother, and shutting the door. She watched as they drove off, before turning and making her way into the food court.

Derek was already at the food court when she got there. She spotted him immediately, leaning up against one of the tables casually. The first thing she noticed about him was that, even in this crazy mixed up alternate universe, Derek _still _had that stupid black leather jacket.

_'Some things never change' _she thought , rolling her eyes at his predictability.

She made her way over to where Derek and his friends were standing, and her heart stopped. There was more people with Derek than he had originally said. But that was alright. As she scanned the group of teenagers, she realized that she knew every last one of them. Sam, like she had predicted, was there. He looked the same as ever, and was standing next to Derek with his hands in his pockets, looking around absent mindedly. She had completely expected Sam to still be Derek's best friend. And she had known that Sheldon would be going ( though she could not comprehend the reasoning behind this. ) But what she hadn't expected was for Max, Emily and Kendra to be there. Since when did Derek hang out with Emily, Max or Sheldon? Kendra, she could sort of understand. They had remained friends after they had broken up, and Casey knew that. On the other hand, had they even gotten together at all this time? Casey had, after all, been the one to get the two of them together. She shook her head. She'd figure out everything eventually.

As she made her way over towards the group, she noticed a group of girls that she didn't recognize staring at her - glaring, to be more specific. She found this odd, but shrugged it off and continued towards the group.

Derek, upon seeing her walking towards them, smiled and pushed himself up off of the table he was leaning against. Casey came to a stop in front of him, not sure of what to say.

"Casey, hey." he said, in an almost relieved tone, as though he'd thought she wasn't going to show up. He turned towards Sam. "Sam, this is Casey, Casey, this is Sam."

"Hey Sam." she said, not feeling at all shy around him, though it was, in a way, weird to be introduced to someone who you had known for over a year, someone who you had gone out with for almost two months.

Sam smiled at her and returned her greeting before Derek turned to his other friends, who had been engrossed in conversation. When Derek spoke, they all looked up at him.

"Casey, this is Emily." he said, motioning towards the girl who Casey had known as her best friend for over a year now. He nodded towards Sheldon; "This is her boyfriend, Sheldon."

Casey had to keep herself from laughing. So even now, Emily had ended up with Sheldon. What Emily saw in that boy, she'd never understand, but she gave a quick smile at the two of them before turning to the only two left. Max and Kendra. And thats when the alarm went off in Casey's mind. If Sam was over there, standing with Derek .. and Sheldon was with Emily .. that left Max to be the guy that Derek had mentioned earlier. The guy who had been coming to the mall with his girlfriend. And that only left one other person.

"Casey, this is Kendra." Derek said. "Shes my ex girlfriend, and shes also Maxs' girlfriend."

Derek motioned towards Max last, who gave a quick nod of the head in greeting.

"You guys, this is Casey.. er-"

He broke off, realizing that he had forgotten her last name. Casey wasn't surprised. She had only mentioned it once, and it had been in the midst of her rant the day before.

"MacDonald." Casey finished for him, still watching Max as he reached over and took Kendra's hand. She had to look away. She was still having trouble processing the fact that Kendra, one of her good friends, was with Max, her boyfriend. She knew she should feel betrayed, but on the other hand, she knew that it wasn't exactly their fault. In this world, they'd never even met Casey up until now. Casey had never been with Max in the first place. And she reminded herself that, if she got back to the real world, she'd still have a chance with Max. Secure with this knowledge, however unstable it may be, she smiled at the lot of them.

"So, Casey, are you Venturi's latest?" Max laughed, but it wasn't meant to be taken harshly. Derek, however, glared at him.

"Shut up, Max." he said, before looking back at Casey. "Don't mind him. He doesn't know when to be quiet."

"Yeah, believe me, I know all about dealing with people like that." she said, with a hint of criticism in her voice, one which Derek did not register. "So uh-what movie are we seeing?"

With that, they started walking to the theatre, with the guys up ahead. Casey fell behind with Kendra and Emily. It seemed so natural to be hanging out with the two of them. She'd done it before, after all. But at least every other time she had been with them, it had been more relaxed and comfortable, and not with the feeling of having just been introduced.

"So how did you meet Derek?" Kendra asked, in a hushed tone so that the boys wouldn't hear their conversation, though Casey had a feeling that they were too involved in their own little world to notice anything the girls said or did.

"I just sort of uh- bumped into him." Casey said, not sure of how to explain the situation. "How did.. how did you meet him?"

"He's my boyfriend's friend." Kendra said, and Casey felt jealousy flood through her. "I met Max first, at my friend's party, and he introduced me to Derek. I started dating him but, that didn't go too well, and I ended up with Max."

"Oh, I see." Casey said, trying to remain calm. "So how long have you and Max been going out?"

"Three months." Kendra said simply, and Casey's eyes widened. Kendra, dating one guy for three months? That had to be some sort of record. Her and Derek hadn't even lasted two months. But then again, she was starting to believe that anything was possible. After a moment, she tuned back into what Kendra was saying.

"Emily has lived next door to Derek for years." she said, smiling. "She used to have the biggest crush on him."

"Used to?" Casey repeated. Even after Emily had started dating Sheldon, she had still talked nonstop to Casey about how amazing she thought Derek was.

"Yeah we went out on a date, but we didn't really hit it off." Emily explained.

_'Just like before.' _Casey thought to herself suddenly. _'Their date hadn't been going well even before I showed up. And Max, Kendra said she met him at a party. Thats how I met him.' _

She was noticing now that a lot of the aspects of her life that had been passed off to other people, or that she had experienced, were pretty much the same, with a bit of a twist.

"We decided that we were better off as friends." Emily continued. "Derek can't keep a girlfriend anyway."

"Tell me about it." Casey muttered to herself, but luckily, nobody heard her. Out loud, she said; "I used to know a guy like that. He was a total and complete jerk."

"Oh, don't get me wrong, Derek's a sweetheart." Emily said instantly, blushing. She seemed to think she'd said something wrong. "It's just, I dunno, he has a hard time holding onto one girl for too long. He seems to get bored with them. I think all he needs is the right girl."

Casey privately disagreed with this statement. Derek would never find the right girl, and even if he did, he'd be too blind to see it, and let her go. All he cared about was keeping the dates coming, and as long as they did, he didn't seem to care who got hurt in the process. But she couldn't act as though she knew anything about Derek, so she settled for;

"Yeah, maybe."

Soon enough, they got to the theatre. After everyone had bought their tickets, and something to eat, they made their way into the theatre. Casey ended up sitting in between Derek and Emily. The movie was uneventful. She found it too hard to focus on a movie, when everything that was going on in her own life was so dramatic at the time. She was still trying figure out what had happened. Half of her still believed that this was all a dream, that she would wake up soon, but the other half of her knew perfectly well that it wasn't. It was too long to be a dream, not to mention too detailed. She didn't know if this was going to last, or if it was just temporary. She knew it had happened for a reason, but the only reason she could think of was that she'd wished it would happen. But that made no sense. Wishes didn't just come true like that. Some wishes, sure. Wishes for your crush to ask you out. Wishes to get a puppy, sure, why not? But wishes to erase everything that had happened since your mother met your stepfather usually didn't come true.

Casey could have sworn that there was one other person not paying much attention to the movie. Derek kept stealing glances at her, as though she was a lot more interesting than the movie. She could've sworn that his hand 'accidently' brushed against hers twice. She had ignored it the first time, thinking it had been an accident, but at the second, she had jumped a little in surprise, before putting both hands in the pocket of her jacket. She hated that, to Derek, there was no logical explanation as to why he shouldn't hit on her. He didn't understand that she'd seen him for the past year as her stepbrother. A part of her reminded herself that they had never really accepted each other as family anyway, but still, it was _Derek_. They were polar opposites. She had Max, or at least, she usually did. It had taken a lot of willpower not to break off and hit something when she'd seen Max lean over and kiss Kendra halfway through the movie.

After they left the theatre, squinting in the sudden light, Casey looked at her watch. It was already four thirty. She figured that she'd better start to head home, in order to be home in time to babysit. She turned to Derek.

"I've got to get going." she informed him. His face fell in disappointment. "I've got to babysit my sister at five."

Derek relaxed a bit under the knowledge that she was leaving because she had to, not because she wanted to.

"Alright then." he said. "Can I call you later?"

Casey wasn't sure what made her do it, but she nodded.

"Sure, if you want to," she said, thinking to herself that she must be going crazy. She had gotten a chance to get rid of Derek for good, like she had wanted, and here she was practically inviting him right back into her life. But there was something a bit different about Derek. When he wasn't supposed to be maintaining his argumentative, egotistical self in front of her, he seemed almost human. And that was a side of Derek that she hadn't seen too often before.

"Well, see you," she said, before turning to leave, but Derek reached out and grabbed her sleeve, pulling her back gently.

"Wait a second, how are you getting home?" he asked, seeing that she was staying and letting go of her sleeve. "Do you have a ride?"

"Um, well I thought I'd call my mom-"

"Don't bother," he said, waving his hand dismissively. "I can give you a ride. My Dad gave me the car for the day. I've just got to drop Sam off first and I can give you a ride home, if you'd like."

"You really don't have to do that," she assured him, shaking her head.

"It's fine, I want to." he said, searching her eyes. "Really, I do. That way your Mom won't have to go out again."

Casey stared at Derek for a moment. Derek being considerate? This was new. She thought hard. Her mother would probably appreciate not having to go back out again. Taking a deep breath, she nodded.

''Alright then, if you're sure." she said, and he smirked at her.

"Come on then." he said, pushing himself up off of the wall he was leaning against. "Sam, we're leaving."

Waving goodbye to the rest of them, Casey followed Sam and Derek out to the parking lot.

For a life thats purpose had been to get rid of Derek, she sure was spending an awful lot of time with him. She sighed. Everything was way too confusing.

* * *

**Like? Hate? Review! New chapter up soon! The next chapter will have a little bit more about Derek's life , and coming up soon is where Casey's life is becoming more clear, so yay! -dances- . REVIEW!! **


	9. Adventures in Babysitting

**First off, sorry for the delay :) Don't be angry, be peaceful :) I was having trouble fitting in some things that needed to be fit in and I was messing around with this chapter and the next one unsure of how to do it, and also it was the last day of school this week but nonetheless, here we are. Thanks again for reading my story and, if you are reviewing it, thank you for that too. Makes me happy. So heres chapter nine. Remember to REVIEW!! **

**P.S- The chapter title is so a steal off of one of the episode titles. Ah well ( **

**Disclaimer: Sadly, my biggest accomplishment this week was managing to pass all my courses in school, not securing the rights to a TV show. **

**Chapter Nine- Adventures in Babysitting**

"Here you go," Derek said, pulling up to the apartment building where Casey lived. "Safe and sound. See, I'm not that bad of a driver am I?"

"Nah, the whiplash will ease, eventually," Casey joked, rubbing her neck for effect. "And I could've done without the super sharp turns but you know, whatever works."

Derek huffed and pretended to be offended by Casey's words, but then he smirked, knowing she was only kidding. She gave him a smile.

"Thanks for the ride," she said sincerely. "I'm sure my Mom will be glad that she doesn't have to go back out."

"No problem," Derek said. Casey opened up her door, but then turned back to Derek.

"I put a bag in your trunk. I need to grab that before I go."

"Shoes?" Derek asked knowingly, and she grimaced at him, knowing better than to answer.

"They were thirty percent off, thank you very much." she said. Whatever world she was in, she'd still enjoy shopping, especially when she was with her friends. Of course, Emily and Kendra didn't know her as well as she knew them, but she found that it had only taken until their trip into the shoe store for them to bond all over again.

"Whatever makes you happy," Derek said with a roll of the eyes, as he pulled his keys out of the egnition and flung open his door. Walking around to the back, he popped the trunk open and waited until Casey had retrieved her bag. He had just shut it when Nora appeared at Casey's side.

"Casey, you got home alright I see," she said, studying Derek carefully. Derek leaned back against his car casually, his hair blowing gently in the wind. "This must be Derek."

"Nice to meet you," Derek said, sticking his hand out. Nora shook it, and Casey tried hard not too laugh. It was so weird to see Derek using his manners.

"I'm Casey's mother," Nora said, giving Casey a small smile. "I see you drove my daughter home."

"Yes m'am," Derek said, with a quick nod. "Don't worry, I'm a safe driver."

Casey snorted, and Derek rolled his eyes.

"Alright, mostly," he said, and Nora seemed a bit skeptical at this, but shrugged it off nonetheless.

"Are you babysitting with Casey?" she asked, changing the topic entirely. Casey froze and Derek looked over at her with a small smirk.

"I don't know, she never asked me to," Derek responded. "I'm used to babysitting though. I've got siblings."

"How many?" Nora asked, interested.

"A younger brother, Edwin, he's thirteen, and a younger sister, Marti, shes seven."

"Well you're welcome to stay if you'd like," Nora said, smiling at Derek, apparantly glad that he had so much experience in babysitting. Casey remembered some of Derek's more demanding babysitting methods, and shuddered. Sure, he had good babysitting experience; if you counted bossing around your siblings and watching TV all day. But nonetheless, Derek turned over to Casey, quizzicaly.

"If Casey wants me to stay, I'll stay." he said , almost as a question. Nora turned to look at her daughter too, awaiting the answer. Casey sighed. She was never going to get away from Derek. Not in this world, not in any world.

"If you want to, but it'll be boring," she warned him, and he shrugged.

"Can't be any worse than being stuck home all night." he decided, and Nora gave Casey a quick kiss on the top of the head. Casey blushed and avoided eye contact with Derek.

''Alright well if you're here I'm just going to go now." Nora said, adjusting her purse on her shoulder. "You two have a fun night with Lizzie. She's just watching TV I think, although she mentioned playing soccer with a few friends after. Don't let her go too far. I'll be home at around eight. Nice meeting you Derek."

"You too, Mrs.MacDonald." Derek said with a quick, formal nod.

"Bye you two. Love you, Case."

"Love you too." Casey said in monotone, rolling her eyes as her Mom got into the car and drove away. Casey and Derek started towards the door slowly.

''You don't have to babysit with me if you don't want to," she reminded him, wanting to give him a chance to go on home if that was what he wanted to do. Knowing Derek, he probably had some date lined up for later on tonight. But he shook his head.

"I've got nothing better to do." he assured her, and that was that. Placing her key in the lock, she unlocked the door into the building and made her way to her apartment. She had missed this building. It was one of the nicer apartment buildings in Toronto, and the MacDonald's apartment was on the third highest floor, with a nice view of the city. There were only about fifteen apartments total, but that was what made it so nice there. Everybody knew everybody else, and the apartments were nice and spacey.

She opened the door to the familar sound of the TV, and the nice vanilla smell that had always lingered in their apartment.

"Liz, I'm home," she said, placing her keys on the keyrack by the door. "Mom's gone."

''Alright." Lizzie said, looking up to see her sister. She went to turn back to the TV, but swivelled around again when she saw Derek following closely behind. Lizzie gave a small smirk . "Are you Derek?"

"Casey's talked about me huh?" Derek said, raising an eyebrow at Casey suggestively. She made a face at him before turning to hang her coat up in the closet.

"Keep on dreaming, Venturi," she said, giving him a playful shove. Derek took a seat on the couch across from Lizzie, who was studying him carefully.

"Do you like soccer?" she said instantly. Derek looked up at her with interest.

"Sure," he said, with a nod. "But I'm more into hockey, myself."

"Hockey?" Lizzie repeated, looking disappointed. "I was in hockey. But I wasn't very good. My teammates were making fun of me so I just quit. Remember how disappointed Mom was, Casey?"

Casey thought back to her normal life. It had been Derek who had helped Lizzie get better at hockey. Without Derek, it was apparant that she had never gotten better on her own. She had quit, something that Nora had told both of the girls was one of the things you just didn't do if you were a MacDonald. MacDonalds weren't quitters. But seeing that Lizzie was waiting for an answer, Casey cleared her throat, nodding.

"Yeah, disappointed." she agreed, not really thinking about it. "Sure."

Lizzie spent the next twenty minutes discussing sports with Derek, Casey sitting there silently. The only sport that she had ever bothered to learn about was football, and Derek had taught her that all wrong. She was amazed at how different he seemed around her when she was Casey MacDonald, just another girl, over Casey MacDonald, his stepsister. He seemed to enjoy being around her when she was just a friend to him. And to be quite honest, she didn't mind him as much as she had before the wish. Casey couldn't help but wonder if that meant that she had changed him for the worse, when she came into his life. If he had been nice without her, did that mean that she had been the one to turn him into a jerk? She told herself that this was stupid, but privately, she had to wonder.

Finally, there came a knock at the door, and Lizzie disappeared with a couple of other kids who lived in their apartment building, calling over her shoulder that she'd be across the street playing soccer. Saying goodbye, Casey looked over at Derek. He was sitting on the same couch on her, turned sideways to face her, and she was doing the same on her side.

"Your sister seems pretty cool," Derek commented after the door had closed and the footsteps belonging to Lizzie and her friends had faded. "So what happened to you?"

This statement reminded Casey exactly of what he had said the night he'd met her Dad, but she ignored it and smacked his knee playfully.

"What about you, is your brother as arrogant and bigheaded as you are?" she asked, wondering what Edwin was like without the MacDonalds. He'd been the only Venturi that she hadn't seen or talked to yet, after all.

"Nah, my brother's not really like me at all." Derek said, still half smiling. "He's smart and polite and caring. According to my Mom at least."

"Your Mom, huh?" she repeated. She had never really heard much about the Venturi kids mother. She knew that Marti and Edwin visited her almost every week, and from what she could gather, they had a pretty good relationship with her. But when she thought about it, she couldn't remember an occasion in which Derek had gone to visit his mother, or picked up the phone and called her. In fact, when she thought about it, she realized that every conversation she had ever overheard that involved Derek's mother, usually involved Derek being strangely silent.

"Do you get along with your Mom?" she asked, her hand tucked behind her head as she stared up at the cieling. He didn't answer for a moment. "Derek?"

"Yeah, I heard you," he said, noticeably quieter this time. "It's just a tough question to answer."

"How so?" Casey asked, confused. "Either you get along or you don't. There's nothing else to it really."

"Well, we get along fine I guess," Derek said, though he didn't sound so sure of himself. "We can have a civil conversation. We don't exactly fight, and when we do, we usually have the sense to end it before it turns too nasty. It's just that, I disappointed her I think."

"Disappointed her?" Casey asked, aware that she was repeating a lot of the things that Derek was saying, but not really caring. "How did you disappoint her?"

"I don't know, really," he said with a shrug. "I'm more into sports, my brother's more into education. I like to fool around, while my brother can be pretty serious a lot of the time. He's just more accomplished to her, I guess. And she's a big fan of accomplishment."

"But, the way you were talking with Lizzie just now sort of made it seem like you've got a few accomplishments under your belt, with sports and whatnot."

"She's not really much of a sports fan," Derek added quietly.

Casey remained silent, for once, actually feeling a hint of pity for Derek Venturi. This was something she never thought she'd feel for him. But she didn't have to answer, because after a moment, Derek turned his head to look the other way.

"It doesn't really matter I guess," he dismissed, though Casey could tell that it mattered a lot to him. "It's mostly in the past. I'm over wishing that she'd be proud of who I am. I am who I am and I'm not changing for her. I wouldn't change for anyone, unless they really mattered to me."

"That's smart, I guess." Casey said, thinking hard. "Do you.. do you like your family life.. in general?"

"In general?" he repeated, and thought for a moment. "I guess so. I don't talk to my Dad a whole lot anymore. After my Mom left, he sort of had to work a lot harder to take care of me and my siblings. Being a single parent isn't exactly easy I guess. He doesn't have much time to talk or.. or help out anymore. He used to come to my hockey games, or whatever my siblings were involved in but lately it's like he hasn't had the time. It never used to be like that, but things change I guess."

She had never really talked about anything serious with Derek, and it was hard to know what to say when he was telling her things he normally wouldn't, especially when it came to divorce. That was a little too personal for her liking. So over the next two hours, they spoke of anything and everything, but they never once let the conversation trail back to the divorce of either of their parents. They talked about friends, siblings, school, past relationships, favourite movies, anything that came up. There was nothing else to do, after all.

About twenty minutes before Nora was due home, Casey went out into the kitchen to wash off the dishes that her and Derek had used to get something to eat on the hour before. Derek was leaning back against the counter, watching her with interest as he handed her each dish. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted this, and turned to him, confused.

"What is it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's just, you have a habit of staring at me, you know that don't you?"

"Oh, I know," he said, shrugging. He looked up at her for a moment. "I don't do it purposely. It's just that, well, you're sort of pretty."

"Sort of, huh?" she asked, feeling a little more than flattered.

"Alright, very." he admitted.

_'Wait a second!' _she thought to herself in alarm . _'This is Derek. Derek's not supposed to find me good looking. He's my stepbrother." _

She reminded herself that, as of right now, he wasn't. As of right now, she was just another girl to him, another girl who he was free to think of as good looking if he wanted to. In fact, if she really wanted to, she could check him out and not feel the least bit guilty about it. But somehow, she felt that it would still be wrong, because, while Derek didn't know the difference, she did.

Another thought struck Casey. Had Derek always thought she was pretty? After all, she looked the exact same as had all along. So if he thought she was pretty now, did that mean he had thought it, even before? She wasn't sure if she was comfortable with that idea. If she ever got back to her normal life, she had a feeling that she'd be on a whole new level of self conciousness when around Derek.

"Sorry," Derek said, glancing away quickly, blushing. "It's habit for me to check out girls. It's who I am."

"Well, you're a guy," she said, placing the last dish in the cupboard, and hopping up onto the kitchen counter, her hands propping her up still. "I think I'd be worried if you weren't remotely interested in how attractive a girl was. Not that guys should judge girls based on looks alone, because they shouldn't. It's wrong. What's on the inside should-"

"Whoah, Kujo, back in your cage there, alright?" Derek laughed, holding up his hands defensively. "I'm not saying anything about judging girls on looks alone, okay? I'm not _that_ shallow."

Casey wanted to hit him for that. That was a downright lie and she knew it. Every girl that Derek had dated in the year that she had known him had been pretty much the same. Blonde, skinny, big chested and easy. Not to mention that most of them probably couldn't count past two. Casey could think of a million and one adjectives that could describe Derek's dates, but she was in no mood to go psychotic on Derek again. He probably already thought she was a little weird, after her rant the night before. So she tried to remain calm as she gave a tight lipped smile.

"I was just saying that you're pretty." Derek said, running a hand through his hair. He gave a chuckle. "You have got to be one of the most difficult girls to get along with that I've ever met. Correction, you _are_the most difficult girl to get along with that I've ever met. You've got some serious multiple personality disorders, I swear. You can be caring and funny one minute, and then you're psychotic and argumentative the next."

Casey blushed and looked away, but Derek sensed this and tilted her chin so that she was looking up at him again. He then placed a hand on either side of the counter, trapping her in.

"I never said it was a bad thing," he assured her, smiling. "And believe me, it's definitly not. I'll admit, I like a girl who can give me a challenge."

"Are you saying that you like me?" she asked, half afraid of the answer.

Before he could answer, the front door opened and Casey could hear her mother calling out to her. Derek, who had been standing fairly close to Casey, closer than even she had realized, took his arms off of the counter and backed off, running his hand through his hair again. He turned to look the other way, and Casey cleared her throat, trying to regain some composure.

"Yeah Mom, we're in the kitchen," she called out, looking back at Derek, but this time, he wouldn't meet her gaze. And she couldn't say she blamed him.

* * *

**Unanswered questions. I originally had the ending wrote differently, but I ended up using this. Either way, hope you liked it. Anyway, REVIEW, and let me know what you think, please and thank you. :) **


	10. New Friends and Phone Calls

**So here is chapter ten! I hope you guys enjoy. Thanks for everyone that has, and still are, reviewing this story. It means a lot, and I love hearing the readers thoughts on what is good and bad about the story. It's actually very helpful, so thank you. Keep the reviews coming! **

**By the way, Green Peridot, your review amused me. :D I can't have you throwing anything so I guess I'll just have to keep updating won't I:)**

**Disclaimer: Do you think if I say this enough, theyll grant me ownership of the show for pure honesty? Lets try. Once again, I don't own it!**

**Chapter Ten: New Friends and Phone Calls**

Casey was drop dead tired. She had spent more than half of the night thinking about her conversation with Derek. After her mother had come into the kitchen the night before, Casey and Derek had barely said two words to each other, except to say goodbye when he left. Nora had silently questioned the sudden akwardness, but before she could voice her concerns, Casey had told her that she was tired, and was going to bed.

She woke up early on Sunday morning to find that her mother and Lizzie were gone out. There was a note on the table saying that they were gone to her Aunt Fiona's for a couple of hours, and that they'd be back sometime that afternoon. There was also a message from Lizzie scrawled across the bottom saying : 'your boyfriend called' . Casey rolled her eyes. She was getting sick of her family thinking of Derek as her boyfriend. He wasn't her boyfriend. She decided that she'd have to limit the amount of time Derek spent around her family. It had major embarassment potential . She wasn't even sure if she wanted to keep hanging out with Derek. She had to admit, she liked the new Derek a lot more than the one than she was used to. And really, she wouldn't mind spending time with him if he was always like this. But if he was starting to like her in more than a friendly manner, she wasn't too sure she'd be able to handle that. She didn't like him that way, and she knew that, knowing there was a possibility that her old life coule be restored eventually, and he would be her stepbrother again, she never could. Besides, it was Derek. She contemplated calling him, but decided to wait.

No sooner had she thought this, than the phone rang. Turning back to it, she picked it up.

"Hello?" she said, praying that it wasn't Derek. She wasn't too sure of what to say to him at the moment.

"Case, where have you _been_?" came a shocked, female voice on the other line. "Seriously hon, you missed out on Laine's party Friday. She was pissed, and I can't say I blame her. Then, you didn't show up at Tessa's yesterday. I've been calling and your sister keeps saying that you're asleep, or that you're gone out. Are you purposely trying to avoid us?"

Casey froze on the spot. She had no sweet clue who she was talking to. It could be anyone, but she definitly did not recognize the voice, or any of the names that the girl had mentioned for that matter. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

"Casey?" the voice repeated. "Hello, this is _me_ you're talking to . It's just Terra. What's going on here, girl? You can tell me. Boy troubles?"

Finding her voice, Casey spoke up;

"Wha-um, no," she said, shaking her head and wandering over to the living room window. "No, not at all. I've just been busy."

"With what?" Terra asked in a demanding tone.

"I was hanging out with a friend," she said finally, and Terra laughed.

"What friend?" she asked through her laughter. "Case, we've all been hanging out together this weekend."

"A new friend," she said quickly, and Terra was silent for a moment. "I met him over the weekend."

"Him, huh?" Terra said slyly. "So do you-"

"No, he is not my boyfriend, and no I don't like him!" Casey cried, before the girl could even ask.

"Chill Case, I was going to ask if we could meet him sometime," Terra said calmly. "You need to relax, girl. So can we?"

"Wha-um, maybe?" Casey said, not really paying attention to what she was saying anymore. "We'll see."

Terra seemed satisfied with this answer and promptly moved on.

"So what's his name?" she asked in a singsong tone. "Is he cute? How'd you meet him? Has he called you yet?"

Casey was taken aback by all of the questions, but nonetheless, found the power to answer them all.

"His name's Derek," Casey said. "I didn't exactly check him out, and I'm not calling him cute or not. I met him by accident when I was uh- looking for my keys, and yes, hes called me, we hung out yesterday."

"You guys hung out?" Terra repeated. "Well normally I'd be pissed that you ditched me for someone, but you know me, I love a good romance."

"Terra, theres no ro-"

"So, where did you guys go?" Terra cut her off, not willing to hear Caseys excuses. "Was anyone else there? Was it a date?"

"Can you possibly say something that doesn't end in a question mark?" Casey asked, amused and annoyed at the same time. She sighed. "We went to the mall, and yes there were other people there. And then he drove me home and helped me babysit Lizzie for the night."

"He helped you babysit?" Terra said. "Aww, that is _so_ sweet."

_'Too bad when I'm just his stepsister he'd stick me with all the work and show up a half an hour before our parents get home, to make it seem like he did something' _Casey thought bitterly. She hated that everyone thought Derek was so amazing. He wasn't. He was arrogant, he was rude, he was lazy and self-important. But as each of these words came to mind, she found that she couldn't match them with the new Derek. She couldn't think of one time that he'd been selfish or arrogant. He'd insult her, sure, but it only seemed to be that of a playful manner. In fact, she didn't really mind the new Derek at all. But still, she reminded herself that if she ever got the old Derek back, everything would be back to normal and they'd hate each other again.

"He came by for a few hours thats all," Casey dismissed. "He probably wouldn't have done it, except my mom asked him if he wanted to-"

"And clearly, he did!" Terra squealed. "See, he totally likes you."

Blatant reminders of her unanswered question the night before came to mind, but she shook them off.

"Look, Derek doesn't like me, alright?" she said, not so sure herself. "He just met me, he doesn't know me well enough to like me."

She reminded herself that this wasn't true. They had talked about an awful lot the night before, after all. She had told Derek more last night than she had in the entire year that he had been her stepbrother. He probably knew her just as well as he had before already. But there was no way she admitting that to Terra.

"Just drop it," she said finally, with no more fight left in her. "Even if Derek _did_ like me, I don't like him back."

"_Sure_ you don't," Terra said, and Casey was almost certain she was smirking. Casey was about to argue with her, when a beep came through.

"Can you hang on a second, I've got a beep," Casey said with a sigh.

"Bet it's Derek,"

"Be quiet." Casey said, before clicking off and turning to the other line. When she answered, it came out as a bit frustrated. "Hello?"

"Aren't you a right little ray of sunshine in the morning?" came Dereks voice, and Casey rolled her eyes. "It's only me, Case."

"Can I help you?" she said, rolling her eyes.

"Just calling to see what Little Miss Sunshine is up to this morning," Derek said, and Casey could just picture him smirking. "So?"

"I'm on the phone with Terra." she said simply.

"My name is Derek, not Terra." he said, trying to sound serious, but after a moment, he laughed. "Kidding. I'll let you go. Call me back after."

"Sure," she said, unsure of which was worse; the idea of having to go back to Terra and her neverending questions, or the idea of having to call Derek back and avoid the question from last night. But nonetheless, she clicked back over to Terras call, in which she had to deny liking Derek about four times before making plans to hang out later, and hanging up. She was a bit worried about hanging out with someone she didn't even know, but from what she could gather, Terra seemed to be her best friend in this life, and it would seem weird if they randomly stopped hanging out.

So, two hours later, there was a knock at the door, and in stepped a girl who Casey had most definitly never seen before in her life. She looked as though she was very popular, with blonde hair past her shoulders, and sky blue eyes. She wore a bit of makeup, but it wasn't overdone, and she was dressed in something that Kendra would probably approve of. A black and white striped tank top, and designer jeans. She stepped into the house and gave Casey a smile.

"Long time no see, hey?" she teased. "Guess having a boyfriend really changes a person."

"Derek is _not_ my - you know what, never mind." Casey said, shaking her head. "You don't quit it, do you?"

"Nah I'll stop, it's lost its allure." Terra said , shaking her head. "But seriously, its been lonely, not having you around all weekend. Shane's been looking for you."

"Shane?" Casey repeated, her stomach sinking. She was getting a bit sick of having to talk to people that she'd never met before. It was quite stressful, as she knew absolutely nothing about most of them.

"Yeah, he said that ever since you guys broke up, you've been avoiding him," Terra explained, plopping down onto the indigo couch, making herself at home. Casey took a seat in the armchair across the room and stared over at her. Well this was great. An ex boyfriend. She could just imagine sitting down to have a conversation with someone she'd gone through a relationship with. What if he tried to talk about why they broke up? She rubbed her forehead in frustration. This was all getting just a little bit too complicated for her liking.

"I'm not avoiding anyone." Casey replied, hoping that this would be the end of the discussion, but of course, it wasn't.

"You'd better not let him find out that you were hanging out with another guy." Terra warned, reaching over with one hand onto the coffee table to grab a mint out of the little glass dish that sat there. She popped one into her mouth as she continued.

"He'll go crazy with jealousy. He still seems to think he's got a chance with you. I've told him over and over again that you're over him, and that he should move on but- I don't know, he won't believe it. Maybe you should talk to him yourself. Maybe that'll work out a bit better."

"Maybe.." Casey said slowly, trying to come up with a way to ask Terra about the relationship without coming off as an idiot. Finally, she settled for the old defeated statement of; "I just don't know what went wrong."

"Are you kidding me, Case?" Terra asked, tossing another mint into her mouth. "You guys fought _constantly _when you went out. I don't think there was ever a day of peace. And he was always hitting on other girls. And the fact that you stopped liking him after about a month didn't really help either."

''Why does he even want to get back with me, if our relationship was that bad?" Casey asked, wondering to herself why she would have ever stayed in a relationship with a jerk like that.

"Its all about popularity, Case," Terra said, sighing. "It was from the beginning. I don't think it was ever a question of you guys liking each other. I mean, you guys_ did _like each other, but after a while, the relationshp was really more of a necessity than anything else. I mean, people just expect the most popular guy around to go after the most popular girl."

Casey, who had just took a sip of her soda, nearly choked upon hearing Terra's words. She coughed and sputtered for a moment, before looking up, and yelling with great difficulty.

"They..I..we.. _what?"_

With that, the phone rang. Still watching a wide eyed Terra, Casey snatched it up.

"Hello?" she snapped, still in a state of shock.

"You know, I think I'm insulted," came Dereks voice on the other end, and Casey rolled her eyes. "First, you answer the phone this morning as though you could kill whoever was on the other end. Then , you don't return my call, and now, here you are again, answering the phone like a crazed psychopath."

"Do you always have to be sarcastic?" Casey asked him, annoyed.

"I don't have to be, but it annoys you," Derek said, and she knew he was grinning right now. "And when you're annoyed, I'm happy so-"

"I'm charmed, really," she deadpanned. "Can I go now?"

"Getting rid of me again?" he asked. "Tsk Tsk Casey, most girls are attracted to my charm-"

"What charm?"

"-my wonderful sense of humor,"

"So I see you finally decided to look in the mirror,"

"-and of course my wonderful good looks." Derek concluded, and Casey raised an eyebrow.

"And we have a winner," she declared. "The most egotistical male of the year goes to Derek Venturi."

Upon hearing Derek's name, Terra looked over, and a mischevious smirk appeared on her face. Casey shook her head, as if telling her to shut up, but Terra wouldn't have it. With her fingers, she made a heart shape and flashed it towards Casey. She glared at Terra but tried to listen to what Derek was saying at the same time.

''I'm not egotistical, I'm just honest." Derek said. "So anyways, what are you doing today?"

"I'm hanging out with my friend, Terra." Casey said, as Terra pointed towards the phone, then to Casey, then resumed the heart shape that she had made with her fingers before. Casey pointed to Terra, then drew an imaginary knife across her throat. Terra pretended to be offended and sunk back onto the couch, folding her arms.

"Oh, well, give me a call later," Derek said, sounding diappointed. "I was wanting to do something with you."

"Again?" Casey asked, raising her eyebrow. She wasn't too sure what to say to that. It wasn't that she didn't want to hang out with Derek, it was that she was afraid she was getting his hopes up by spending more time with him. She wasn't even sure if he liked her that way, but it sure seemed like it.

"Yeah, I was thinking we could- hold on." Derek said, and she heard the phone being covered. She heard voices in the background. and she took this oppurtunity to laugh at Terra, who was still pretending to be mad at Casey.

"Alright, scratch that; Dad's making me babysit my brother and sister." Derek grumbled, sounding embarassed and angry all at once. Casey's heart leapt.

"I can help you, if you'd like." she offered. She really wanted to spend some time around Edwin and Marti. She had sort of missed them. Sure, it had been pretty cool having a bit of extra privacy over the past few days, but it had gotten kind of lonely without Marti coming into her room, begging Casey to play with her, or without Edwin coming to see her with another proposal or threat from Derek. Derek's voice brought her back to the conversation.

"You sure?" he asked, sounding surprised. "If you don't want to-"

"You helped me last night," she reminded him. "Besides, your sister seems cute. And your brother sounds interesting."

'That's one word for it," he grumbled, before giving in. "Fine. You know where I live, right?"

_'Of course I do,' _she thought to herself, but just settled for saying she did.

"See you at around seven," he said. "And don't worry about finding a way home. When my Dad gets home, I can drive you."

"Alright then, see you later." Casey said, and hung up the phone to see Terra smirking again.

"Oh shut up." she said, looking away.

"You know, for someone who doesn't like Derek, you sure seem eager to hang out with him." Terra observed, raising an eyebrow suggestively. Casey looked away quickly. She wasn't going to bother denying it again. It wasn't true, and she knew that. She was just going to have to let people figure for that on their own.

"What were you saying before, about me being the most popular.."

"Oh aren't you the modest one all of a sudden?" Terra laughed. "Come on, Case, you're more popular than _Laine_ even. And _that's _saying something."

"Alright.." she said slowly, trying to figure out a way to ask Terra about her life without sounding stupid. "I don't know. I just don't see myself as popular.. I never used to be."

"Yeah, I know you never. You used to be a loser actually."

"You're nice," Casey commented, arching her eyebrows.

"Sorry but.. it's sort of true," Terra said, blushing. "You were. You were too worried about your grades, and never let yourself have any fun."

Casey wondered vaguely if this meant that she wasn't a straight A student like she was before. She couldn't see herself neglecting her studies like that; they had always been the most important thing to her, after all. Then again, if she was the most popular girl at her school, then she was pretty sure that anything was possible.

She made her decision then and there. There would be no more slacking off. Tonight, she was going to find out all she could about the Venturi's life without the MacDonalds. And tomorrow, she'd find out all she could about her own life without the Venturis . She needed to get to the bottom of this whole situation, and sitting around wondering wasn't going to do it.

* * *

**So there's the chapter! Like it? Hate it? Either way, review it!! I really enjoy reading feedback on the story! It inspires me! I'm sure some of you were glad to finally meet Terra in this chapter. She does come back into it, this is not the end of her. She does come back into the story a fair bit after. Gotta love having Casey confused though. I won't have an update for a few days, because I won't be anywhere near a computer for a day or so, but as soon as I do, I'll finish off the next chapter. Its halfway done anyway :) So sorry about that! . Usually I wait until I have a chapter or two done before I post, but I didn't want to keep you waiting a few days so, here we go! Review!**


	11. Makeup and Mixups

**Alright, I finally finished chapter eleven. You don't know how long it took me to write this, and I still don't think I captured it the way I wanted. I had such a hard time with this one and I don't know why! I had writers block on this story only! I was working on a bunch of other things no problem. And the one time I did get inspired to work on this, I was about three hours away from home . Ugh. Anyway to answer a few questions that the reviewers had, yes Casey still goes to the all girls school and yes, it is summer break . :) So heres chapter eleven. Once again, thanks for reviewing, and please keep doing so. I love feedback. You guys rock!**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I still don't own it. Wishful thinking. Thats the way to go.**

**Chapter Eleven: Makeup and Mixups**

Casey showed up at the Venturi's around seven, after the bus dropped her off. Standing on the doorstep, she couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by it all. Being around Derek was one thing, but being around all three Venturi kids was going to make it very difficult to act as normal as possible. She was afraid that she would mention something to Marti or Edwin that she wasn't supposed to know about them. She vowed to herself to stick almost strictly to questions. She was planning on trying to find out out as much as she could about the Venturi family in this alternate universe, and as for tomorrow, she'd made plans with Terra already, and she intended on finding out as much as she could about her own life without the Venturis.

It was Marti that answered the door, already bouncing off the walls. She looked up at Casey and flashed her a toothy smile.

"Hi Casey!" she said in an excited voice. "Are you helping Smerek babysit me?"

"Yeah, I am." Casey said, looking over Marti carefully. She looked the exact same as she always did and, from what Casey could tell, she acted the same too. Then again, she'd said less than ten words since she'd opened the door but nonetheless, she seemed like the same old Marti.

Marti stepped back and let Casey step into the porch. From the second Casey stepped into the house, she could hear the familar sound of Derek threatening Edwin. Between the upbeat figure of Marti in front of her and the arguing going on upstairs, she felt somewhat at home. This was what she was used to, although usually Lizzie was fighting with Marti over the remote or something. But this was going to have to do.

"Edwin, I swear, you say _one _thing and you're dead!" Casey could hear Derek yelling. She could tell that the brothers were upstairs, judging by the scuffling of footsteps above her. Marti was looking up at her with great interest. Casey eyed her back with equal interest, and was debating whether or not she should say anything, when the little girl spoke up.

"Can you do my makeup like yours?" she asked, her hands clasped together behind her and she swayed back and forth innocently. Casey smiled down at her.

"Sure I can," she said, remembering the time that both Lizzie and Marti had used her makeup while she had been on her date with Scott. "Do you have any makeup?"

"A little bit." Marti said, taking Casey's hand and pulling her towards the couch. She pointed a tiny finger towards the couch, willing Casey to sit, and she did.

Marti kneeled on the floor in front of the couch and reached underneath it, pulling out a pink plastic case which, Casey could see, held all of her makeup . She frowned. She remembered Marti having a lot more makeup than that. The kid loved to play dressup, Casey knew, for there had been more than one occasion in which her and Lizzie and occasionally a protesting Derek and Edwin, had been forced to sit through a makeover by Marti. Nonetheless, she opened up the plastic case and told Marti to sit down on the couch next to her.

When Derek and Edwin finally came downstairs ten minutes later, with Edwin looking as though he'd just been tossed from a tornado, with his hair messed up and his clothes all wrinkled, Marti was sitting cross legged on the couch with most of her makeup already done. Casey was just putting some lipgloss on her when Derek spotted her.

"Case, hey, I didn't know you were here yet." he said, using his hand to try and flatten his hair in an attempt to make it look at least somewhat presentable. His attempt failed, and he blew a piece of stray hair from his eyes, giving up .

"I think you were too busy yelling at your brother to notice much of anything," she said, not taking her eyes off of Marti, as she replaced the cover to the lipgloss and selected a case of light blue eyeshadow from the box. Derek paused and looked down at his little sister.

"Did she ask you to help her with her makeup?" Derek asked, looking from Casey to Marti. Casey paused for a moment and looked up at Derek.

"Yes, what's wrong with that?" she asked, looking at him, awaiting an answer. He shrugged and shook his head.

"Nothing's wrong with it, I guess," he said , his hands in his pockets. "It's just that she gave up asking us to help her ages ago."

"Well did you help her when she asked?" Casey asked, and Derek looked embarassed for a moment. Casey sighed. "I'll take that as a no?"

"No, I did, sometimes, but come on, I'm a guy. I don't know all that much about makeup, obviously." he said, looking anywhere but at Casey. "But I mean, I tried. Someone had to. Dad doesn't know how to help her with that sort of stuff and Edwin didn't want to either."

"And you did?"

"Someone had to." he repeated again, looking away.

Casey didn't reply. As she looked down at the smile on Marti's face, she felt pity for the little girl. She guessed that having two older sisters come into her life had definitely been a bonus for Marti. Now that she thought about it, Marti had enjoyed copying whatever her and Lizzie had done once they had moved into the Venturi household. She could see that it was hard on Marti, being the only girl in the house. At least when the MacDonalds had been there, she had had three female role models. Now, she had none, while she was at her fathers house at least. Bringing herself out of her trance, she sighed, and replaced the makeup back in the plastic case.

"All done!" Casey announced, smiling down at Marti, who was grinning from ear to ear. "Want to see?"

"Yeah!" Marti said enthusiastically. Casey pulled the little hand mirror from the box and held it up for Marti to take a good look at herself. The little girls grin grew even wider as she caught sight of her reflection.

"Thanks, Casey!" Marti said, and before Casey could say anything Marti hugged her right around her waist. Casey smiled and returned the hug. She really had missed Marti in the past few days. Marti ran off upstairs, no doubt to look at herself some more in her own mirror, and Derek took her place, sitting in the spot she'd just abandoned.

"Sorry about that..." he said slowly, as though doing Marti's makeup had been a big ordeal. Casey looked over at him. "Growing up in a house full of guys is hard for her sometimes, I think."

"Understandably..." Casey said, trailing off, and looking around.

Edwin was just coming back into the room, a binder tucked under his arm. Casey smiled to herself. Some things never changed. Derek turned to see what she was looking at, and upon seeing his little brother, he rolled his eyes.

"Edwin, you dork, it's summer." he said as Edwin sat in Derek's recliner. "What are you doing with a binder?"

"Research." Edwin said absent mindedly, opening the binder and scanning through until he found the page he was looking for. He looked up at Casey. "Are you Casey?"

"Er-yeah." she said, nodding. "And you're Derek's brother?"

"Edwin Venturi." Edwin said, with a quick nod of the head. "I must have missed you a few nights ago."

"Yeah, I guess so.'' Casey said, biting her lip. She watched as Edwin returned to his 'research'. She noticed that he had a tendency of looking up at them every few minutes, before turning back and reading something over, or else writing something down. She had to wonder if he was writing something about them, but she couldn't imagine what he would say. It wasn't like they were talking about anything interesting.

After about an hour of watching TV, and chatting during commercials, Derek stood up and ran a hand through his hair.

"I've got to go put Marti to bed." he said, glancing at his watch. "Edwin, watch what you say."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Edwin said, not looking up. Derek put a hand on top of Edwin's head and forced him to look up.

"What was that?" he asked threateningly. Casey rolled her eyes. He was still the same big, threatening older brother Derek when it came to Edwin, she noticed. Edwin's eyes widened.

"Yes sir." he said, and Derek let him go, darting up the stairs. When his footsteps were no longer heard, Edwin placed his binder on his lap and glanced over at Casey .

"So, how do you know my brother?" Edwin asked, though Casey got the impression that he already knew the story, he just wanted to hear Casey's version of it.

"I just sort of-bumped into him." Casey said, figuring that this was the best way to put it.

"Yeah, he has a tendency of meeting his dates randomly... there's a new one every week," Edwin said, trailing off. He looked up at Casey suddenly, blushing. "But I'm uh, I'm sure you'll be different."

"I'm sure I will be; because Derek and I aren't dating." Casey said to Edwin, who raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, you...but Derek...oh..."

"Did he tell you that we were dating?" Casey asked, anger bubbling up in her all of a sudden. "Did he say something?"

"No no, he uh...it's just, the way he talks, I figured..." Edwin scrambled for words, but it was clear that he was having trouble finding the right ones. "You know what? Never mind. Forget I said anything."

With that, Edwin jumped up, and raced towards the stairs, binder secured safely under his arm. He bumped into Derek on the staircase, but kept on going, not even bothering to stop and apoligize. Derek stood still for a moment, as though he was deciding whether or not to go and tell his brother off, but finally, he decided against it, and came back downstairs, settling himself back into his spot on the couch by Casey.

"What was that all about?" he asked, eyeing Casey suspiciously.

She looked over at him with interest.

"Well your little brother gets the impression that we're dating." she said, keeping her tone calm, yet she couldn't help but wonder if he'd said something to Edwin. "Care to explain that, Derek?"

Derek's face reddened, and he looked away, not speaking. Casey felt herself growing more angry by the second, and, despite how well she'd been managing her anger over the past few days, she couldn't keep it in this time.

"Derek, I cannot _believe _you told your little brother that we were dating!" she cried, glaring at him. "Why would you tell him something like that? It's not even true and-"

"I didn't tell him that, alright?" Derek finally said, snapping his head up and looking at her. "He keeps bugging me about it, and it's getting a bit annoying actually."

Casey softened a bit at that. If he hadn't made up lies about her, she had no reason to be mad. And from what she could gather, he really hadn't told Edwin anything. But she still didn't understand why Edwin would assume something like that without some influence from someone.

"My sister keeps bugging me about it too..." she admitted. "But I mean, Edwin's never even seen me with you before so, why would he think that all on his own?"

Like a few moments before, Derek fell silent, and Casey watched him curiously. He appeared to be very interested in his hands all of a sudden, as he was staring at them intently. And Casey understood then, that Derek may not have told his brother that they were dating, but he had definitely told him something. Trying to keep anger from her voice, Casey spoke again.

"What did you tell your brother, Derek?" she asked, watching him carefully.

He remained silent.

"Answer me, Derek," she said, trying to stay patient. "What did you tell your brother?"

When he still didn't answer, Casey's patience started to fade. It wasn't that hard to answer a simple question, but he appeared incapable of doing so.

"Derek, would you just answer me?" Casey yelled, all patience lost. "It's not a hard question to answer. All you've got to do is-"

"I told him that I sort of liked you, alright?" Derek finally cried, turning his head suddenly to look her in the eyes. She remained speechless as he continued; "I've liked you since we hung out at the mall, well, sort of. I just thought you were really good looking at first but then, last night, when we talking and stuff. I mean, I told you things that I haven't told anyone else before in my life. And I've known you ... what? Two, three days maybe? Honestly, that scares me. It really does."

"Why does it scare you?"

"I'm not one to open up to people easily, alright Casey?" Derek said, looking away again. "I don't usually show emotion but ... with you it's different. And it scares me because I just met you ... and I feel this way already. And I honestly don't know how to feel about that."

Casey was completely silent. She didn't know why she was so shocked. It wasn't like she couldn't have seen this coming. He had, after all, been pretty obvious. She had caught onto the fact that he had some attraction for her but she had thought it had just been physical, nothing serious. Yet here he was, challenging that, telling her that it was so much more . And she honestly didn't know how to take that. For some reason, it didn't bother her as much as she thought it would. She didn't find it disgusting or wrong and, quite frankly, that frightened her. She had assumed that, if Derek did tell her he liked her, she'd be completely revolted by the idea. But she wasn't. And she couldn't imagine why.

Derek spoke her name quietly, causing her to look up at him. He was nervous, she could tell, and she listened intently for whatever he was going to say to her next. After a moment, he spoke again.

"So I've basically just, uh, put everything out there for you to see..." Derek said to her, his voice shaking nervously. "I've never done that before and ... I've never really asked this to a girl before but ... I need to ask you this."

_'Please don't ask me how I feel...' _Casey repeated over and over in her head. _'Anything but that.' _

"I need to know how you feel." Derek said, and Casey's hopes died away. So much for wishful thinking.

"I'm starting to like you a lot, Casey, but I want to know if you feel anything for me." Derek said, and when she looked up, she realized that he was looking her straight in the eye. "So I need you to tell me, being one hundred percent honest. Do you feel anything for me too?"

* * *

**Alright, so sorry for leaving you on a cliffhanger, but hey, it was my first one in this story. I went ten chapters without one, I had to do it :) Ah well. Anyway, hope you liked it. I had a really hard time writing this chapter. Literally, I started it last week and I just finished it tonight. I don't know what it was about it, but I don't know if I liked the way it turned out or not. Anyway, review, let me know what you think, how you think the story is going and whatnot, and then Casey's reaction will be in the next chapter. :)**


	12. Instinct Answers and Second Thoughts

**So I don't really know what it was, but whatever writers block I had for this story before randomly disappeared after I posted chapter eleven. Maybe two minutes later, I got inspired again, and am back on track with a few more chapters finished . So yay! Thank you for reviewing my story, and please keep doing so! Without further interruption, minus the disclaimer and whatnot, here is chapter twelve. **

**Disclaimer: The wishful thinking never worked, because I still don't own it :( **

**Chapter Twelve: Instinct Answers and Second Thoughts**

"Casey?" Derek said after a few moments of silence. "Did you hear my question?"

"Yeah..." Casey said in a dazed voice. "Yeah, I heard the question."

"Alright so ... how do you feel about it?" Derek asked, shifting nervously. "About me liking you? Do you feel anything for me either?"

Casey thought hard. She didn't know what to say to Derek. Her first instinct was to say no, but, quite honestly, she thought that if she said that, she'd be lying. When she thought of the new Derek, she didn't have any hatred for him. He was actually a pretty good guy. But having feelings for him was a completely different story, and she understood that. She was trying to work out the difference between friendly feelings and romantic feelings in her head. She never thought that she would have to have this sort of mental debate about Derek, of all people. But yet here she was, trying to figure out if she liked her stepbrother.

And thats when something clicked. He was her stepbrother. Changed or not, she couldn't like him. It was wrong. Sure, she wasn't related to him right now, but what if she ended up back in her own life again? What would happen then, if she liked Derek, and she had to go back to the real world, where Derek was her stepbrother and he treated her like dirt? She couldn't risk that, risk living with the instability of not knowing how long something could last. And the more she thought about it, the more she realized that maybe her feelings for Derek really were just friendly feelings.

_'Yes, thats exactly what it is.' _she told herself as confidently as she possibly could. _'That's all this is. Im beginning to see Derek as a friend.' _

"I'm going to take your silence as a flat out no." Derek said under his breath, almost incoherently.

Casey felt bad for him then, and rushed into an explanation.

"It's ... it's not that, Derek." she said, although she knew that was a lie. "It's just, right now, I see you as more of a friend than anything else. You're great to hang out with, and I really like spending time with you. You're easy to talk to and ... and you seem to understand a lot of the things I tell you, and I like that about you but ... I don't see you that way. Not right now at least."

Derek was completely silent, apparantly taking in everything that she had just said to him. He bit his lip and turned towards her. Casey waited for some sort of a reaction from him, and, after what felt like an eternity, he answered. She listened, hoping that she hadn't screwed up their friendship entirely.

"Alright then." was all he said at first, before nodding. "That's fine, I totally understand."

"You ... you do?" Casey asked, not expecting this reaction from Derek. Derek was never one to take rejection easily. The Derek she knew, the old Derek, would charm his way into a date, or else turn it around to make it seem like he hadn't showed too much emotion in the first place. But this time, Derek only nodded.

"Yeah, you've told me that you don't like me like that, and I've got to accept that, haven't I?" Derek asked, shrugging. "It's no big deal. I'll get over it."

"Are you sure?" she asked him , not entirely convinced.

"Hey, I always bounce back." Derek said with a playful shoulder shove. He smiled at her, but she could hear his voice wavering on it's every note, and she could see hurt reflected beyond his eyes. She knew this was hurting him more than he was letting on.

Suddenly he became serious again and his hand dropped from her shoulder.

"Just so we're clear ... " he started, running his hand through his hair. "Is there uh, any point in time that you could see those feelings changing? Do you think that maybe, in time, you could like me like that?"

Casey didn't want to say yes, because she knew that it was probably a lie. As nice as the new Derek was, she just wasn't sure that she could ever like him that way. In the back of her mind, she knew that maybe she was harbouring some feelings for him but right now, she just didn't want to face that. And she didn't want to tell him that he had a chance, and lead him into thinking that waiting for her was going to pay off in the long run. Because in all honesty, it might not. Telling him he had a chance would be unfair. It was wrong, it was misleading, and it was dishonest. It was something Casey couldn't do to him.

"I'm sorry, Derek." she said slowly, and the slight smile on his face drifted away completely then. "I think you're better off finding someone else, alright? I mean, it's possible, but I really doubt it. And I don't want to make you wait around for something that might never happen."

"I'd do it." Derek said instantly, looking her right in the eye. "I'd wait. I'd give you time, if thats what you need."

"You're better off moving on, alright?" she said, and he looked disappointed. She smiled at him and placed her hand on arm, causing him to look up at her. "Hey, cheer up, okay? We're still friends, aren't we? We can still hang out, and talk like we do now, right?"

Derek studied her carefully for a moment, as though he wasn't too sure about the whole thing. Casey waited for him to respond, and finally, he gave a forced, tight lipped smile. He swallowed hard and nodded.

"Friends, yeah, of course." he agreed. "That'd be great."

Edwin gathered enough courage to come back downstairs and face his older brother about a half an hour later. He seemed to sense that there was tension in the air between the two teenagers, and Casey could've sworn that Derek shot his younger brother a couple of death glares, to which Edwin ducked his head and looked away, as if he knew perfectly well the trouble that he'd caused. He left after a half an hour of Derek's undeniable anger, leaving the two alone in the living room.

Derek didn't bring up what had happened again. Throughout the rest of the evening, he appeared strangely distant from Casey. He wasn't rude, he wasn't mean, he just wasn't himself. He seemed scared to look her in the eye, and he wouldn't let the conversation stray to anything close to personal again. By the time she got home that night, she had to wonder if, despite what Derek had said, he still wanted to be her friend at all.

- - - - - - -

Casey awoke the next morning to Lizzie knocking on her door. At first she thought that the noise was just a part of her dream, but after a few calls of her name, she got the point, and opened her eyes blearily, squinting in the sudden light.

"What time is it?" she called out to her younger sister who called back that it was eleven thirty, and that Terra was there.

Casey got up out of bed right away and got changed into the nearest outfit she could find. Sticking her hair up in a sloppy pony tail, Casey made her way out into the living room, yawning. When she got to the living room, Terra was seated on the couch, watching as Lizzie played a game on the XBOX. Upon seeing Casey enter the room, she grinned.

"Rise and shine, cupcake." she cooed in a mocking tone. "Someone was feeling rather lazy this morning."

"Ugh, leave me alone." Casey grumbled at her, scratching her head. "Liz, where's Mom?"

"Umm, work?" Lizzie suggested, as though stating the obvious.

"Oh ... right." Casey said, feeling stupid for not realizing something like that. "I'm babysitting, then?"

Terra raised her eyebrows at Casey, looking rather amused by how clueless she was this morning.

"Alright Casey, I'm going to fill you in on a little secret here." she said, as though explaining the alphabet to a small child. "You've been babysitting Lizzie everyday of the summer since you were thirteen. And I've been here at ten am, every single day of summer for the past two summers. Nothings changed about that, hon."

Casey thought back, and realized that the babysitting part was true. Before the Venturis, Casey had willingly taken the job to watch Lizzie from nine till five every weekday during the summers. She was an easy babysitting charge; she was usually out with friends anyway, but when she was inside, she was easy to handle. She had to admit that she had a pretty good friend on hand, if Terra was willing to give up her daytimes to hang out and babysit with Casey. But Casey definitely did not mind Terra being there. Today, she intended on finding out a lot about her life without her stepfamily, and Terra would probably come in handy, since she seemed to know everything about Casey.

As Casey made her way into the kitchen to find herself something to eat, Terra got up and followed. Casey poked through the cupboards, looking for something half edible, and Terra propped herself back on her elbows, leaning against the counter.

"So?" she asked, smiling.

Casey didn't bother to look over at Terra as she said;

"So what?"

"Don't 'so what' me, Casey McDonald." Terra said, trying to sound angry, but failing dismally. "How was babysitting with Derek?"

"Go to hell."

"Someone's touchy." Terra said with a smirk. She laughed. "No, really, tell me, how was it?"

"Well if it makes you any happier, Miss Know-It-All, you were right." Casey mumbled as she found a box of cereal and placed it on the counter. She crossed to the other counter, in search of a bowl as she continued with her explanation.

"Derek likes me." she said simply, and Terra squealed in delight, jumping up and down. Casey groaned.

"Terra, I woke up three minutes ago." Casey reminded her. "Can we please keep the noise level to a minimum?"

'Sorry Case, it's just ... Derek likes you?" she asked, smiling. "That is _so_ cute! So what were his exact words?"

"I ... I don't know, Terra, he said a lot." Casey said, not wanting to do a play by play of the night before. It was already confusing enough as it was. Terra looked at her with puppy dog eyes, and Casey sighed. "Ugh, fine. He basically told me that he first thought I was really good looking, but now that he's getting to know me, he's realizing that there is something else he likes about me, and that he is starting to like me a lot. And then he asked me if I felt the same way."

"And of course you said ..." Terra asked, smirking at her friend.

"I said no." Casey said, turning away and pouring her cereal into her bowl.

Terra was silent for a moment, before managing to get out a couple of words.

"You said_ no_?" Terra asked, as though she couldn't believe it. "Aww Case, why would you do that? He seems like such a sweet guy."

"Sorry Terra, I just ... it's complicated, alright?" Casey said, not in the mood to explain it. "Honestly, giving it some thought now, maybe a part of me wanted to say yes. But I couldn't."

"Care to explain?" Terra asked, sitting down at the table across from Casey as she began eating her cereal. Casey shook her head. "Come on, tell me whats going on."

"Trust me ... I can't explain this..." Casey said honestly. "If I could, I would, but I can't."

"You really suck, you know that right? " Terra said, slouching down in her chair and folding her arms across her chest. She pouted like a fussy toddler, and Casey laughed. The pout disappeared, and Terra glared at her.

"Fine, laugh all you want, but karmas a bitch." she reminded Casey in a singsong voice. "One of these days I'm going to have a secret that _you'll _want to know."

"Will you now?"

"Yeah!" Terra said smugly. "I will. And you know what you'll do?"

"I don't know." Casey said, amused. "What will I do?"

"You'll be begging me to tell you what it is." Terra continued. "And you know what_ I'll _do?"

"Enlighten me."

"I'll laugh and keep it all to myself!" Terra said, nodding. "Yeah, thats what I'll do. You won't like that, will you now?"

"Probably not." Casey said with a shrug, and Terra stared at her for another moment, before frowning.

"Nothing works on you anymore." she said, grumpy now. "You used to always fall for the karma trick."

Casey just grinned at her, and went back to her cereal.

She couldn't tell Terra, or anyone else, for that matter, the real reason why she was so against having feelings for Derek. People would think she was crazy if she told them the real reason. But a part of her wondered if she really did like Derek. After all, when he'd first told her the night before, she hadn't really been as upset as she would've thought by his confession. In fact, for a moment, she had felt something else, something she couldn't exactly put her finger on, but it was a good feeling. And she couldn't understand that.

When Derek had asked her how she felt, she should have been able to say that she didn't feel the same way, no questions asked, no second thoughts. But hadn't she had to think about it? Hadn't she been having a private battle over right and wrong in her head? And she had only declared that she had no romantic feelings for Derek after she labelled it as wrong in her head. A part of her had to wonder that; if she pushed all of the strings away and forgot who Derek was to her in her real life, if she forgot that he was her stepbrother, would she like have allowed herself to like him? Would she have said yes to Derek last night?

She didn't know, but she had a pretty clear idea on what the answer was. And that answer scared her more than anything.

* * *

**Voila. There's chapter twelve. Hope you all enjoyed, and please review! The more reviews I get the quicker I update! Hehe. I'm mean, but I'm not kidding :) **


	13. Ex Boyfriends and the end of Denial

Thank you all for reviewing the story, it really means a lot. There are a few things about Casey's life discovered in this chapter, and we meet a new character ( who was already mentioned in the story) :) So read and review my friends, read and review!

By noon, Casey had already gathered a pocketful of information and facts about her new life, simply by striking up a simple conversation with Terra. So far, she had gathered that she was well known for her on again/off again relationship with her ex boyfriend, Shane, and that it wasn't uncommon for her to date about a bunch of other guys in between their breakups and makeups. She could only guess that this is what Lizzie meant when she had called Casey something of a flirt. To be quite honest, the way that Terra described Casey sort of made her wonder if she was now a female version of the real Derek. She shuddered at the thought, and tried to push it aside, but it still stuck.

Casey also gathered from Terra that she had become popular at the beginning of the ninth grade , when she had joined cheerleading, and had started hanging around with Terra and her friends. Casey tried to work out why she had become popular in this life, and it only came down to one thing. Back in her real life, she was in constant competition with Derek. Derek had it all. He was cool, he had tons of friends, more dates than he could schedule, the admiration of his younger siblings, and he was captain of the hockey team. But the one thing that held him back was academics. He just didn't do well in school, and when Casey thought about it, she realized that maybe that's why she had always tried so hard to do well. She needed to be on the same level as Derek, and academic acheivement was the only thing she could beat him at. She could only guess that, without Derek, she hadn't felt the need to have such high standards, and had eventually allowed herself to relax, and live a little. And in the process, she'd found new friends, that just happened to be popular. She had mentioned a few people in general to Terra, who had been her friends before, but Terra didn't have much to say about any of them, if she recognized the name at all. Casey made a mental note to check the address book she had seen lying on her desk earlier, to give her an indication of whether or not she had stayed in contact with her old friends.

By the time Nora got home that night, Casey and Terra were getting ready to go to a party that Terra claimed their friend Laine had been invited to. Casey really wasn't sure if she wanted to be in a room full of people that she'd have to act like she knew, but on the other hand, she knew it might be good for her. Maybe it would take her mind off of Derek for a while.

So at around eight, Nora dropped Casey and Terra off at a house about ten minutes away from theirs, and drove off, calling after them to be safe. Casey followed closely behind Terra, feeling suddenly shy, and simply nodded when someone called out to her, or waved to her.

The place was crowded, with dozens of teeangers standing around, dancing or chatting. The overhead lights had been shut off, but strobe lights and black lights lit the room up with a casual party atmosphere. Casey was just about to ask Terra where the washroom was, when she felt someone tap on her shoulder. She turned around, and found herself face to face with a tall, sandy haired boy, who was grinning down at her.

"Case, how've you been?" he asked, and Casey remained silent. "Oh come on, Case, you aren't still mad at me are you? We broke up like a week ago. You never stay mad at me for this long."

"Oh ... er, Shane." Casey said, praying that she was right. The boy nodded, and she relaxed. Terra whispered to Casey that she was going to go and find someone, and she darted off.

"Where have you been all week?" Shane asked her, flipping his hair back in an arrogant way. "I've tried calling you but your little sister keeps saying that you're gone out."

"Yeah I ... I haven't been home a whole lot these past few days." she said, nodding. "I was hanging out with a ... a friend."

Casey could have sworn that Shane's features darkened considerably at that moment, and his tone dropped a level, losing its casual atmosphere.

"A friend, huh?" he repeated, narrowing his eyes at her. "Who's uh ... who's your friend?"

"Derek." she said slowly, unsure of what his reaction would be. From what Terra had told her, Shane hated her hanging around with other guys. She could only hope that this would be different. "Derek Venturi."

"Derek Vent- what the hell, Case?" Shane stammered, eyes wide. "What are you doing with _him_?"

"You _know _him?" Casey asked, surprised by this. "How do you know him?"

"Our team played his team last year in the playoffs." Shane explained quickly, shaking his head. Casey wasn't surprised. Of course it was hockey. "But how do _you_ know him?"

"I uh- I just sort of ... ran into him on my way home a couple of nights ago." Casey said, knowing that she was, at least, telling the truth. "I asked to use his phone and uh, he called me the next day to hang out."

"I'll bet he did." Shane said, looking murderous. "Listen Case, stay away from him, alright?"

"What?" Casey said, raising her eyebrows and placing a hand on her hip. "Why?"

"I don't know, I just don't like him, okay?" Shane said with a shrug.

This only angered Casey further. If there was one thing she hated in a guy, it was thinking that their opinions were superior to those of others, especially women. She felt her face fall into a cold expression, and when she spoke, her tone was harsh .

"I don't need you to tell me who I can and cannot hang out with, thank you very much." Casey said coldly. "If you don't like Derek, that's fine with me, but something tells me that this is just some ... _guy _thing. Some popularity competition. So think what you want, but Derek is my friend. And it's going to stay that way."

"Not if I can help it."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing." Shane said quickly. "It's just .. you shouldn't be hanging out with someone like Venturi, okay? He breaks girl's hearts. He's famous for it."

"And that would make him any different from you, how?" Casey said, reflecting back on the stories that Terra had told Casey about Shane and his reputation with girls. "You're being hypocritical, Shane."

"_I'm _being hypocritical?" Shane said, emphasizing his words. He laughed. "What about you, Case? Don't act all high and mighty. Everytime we break up, you go out with about four or five guys before we make up again. And what would you call that, other than being a male version of what you're accusing _me_ of?"

Casey was silent this time. She knew she couldn't argue with that. From what Terra told her, she _did _date a lot of guys in between hers and Shane's breakups and makeups. And even though she had no recollection of it, it wasn't exactly something she was proud of. So she sighed and continued, in a calmer tone this time.

"You're probably right." she said, shrugging. "I do go out with a lot of guys when we're broken up, but you're no better, and maybe Derek isn't either. Maybe we're all more alike than we realize, but I can be friends with Derek if I want to be."

"I wish you wouldn't be." he said stubbornly.

"You know what I think, Shane?" she said, crossing her arms. "I think that theres some sort of competition thing going on here. You're the most popular guy at your school, and Derek's the most popular guy at Thompson. And you think that by me hanging out with him, you'll lose me to someone else, don't you?"

"That's not it at all." Shane said, but Casey could tell from the look in his eyes that he was lying. She stared him down. "Fine, maybe it's got something to do with that, but it's alright. You'd never fall for a guy like him anyway."

"And who says I wouldn't?" Casey snapped, and then she froze, unable to believe the words that had just come out of her mouth.

'Oh my god, I did not just say that. I did not just say that Derek was my type.'

Shane seemed to be thinking the exact same thing as Casey was, because he seemed just as shocked by her words as he had been.

"Well you said it yourself, that me and him are a lot alike." Shane said, shrugging and trying to act as though it didn't bother him. "But you'll come back to me anyway; you always do. Especially after Venturi breaks your heart, like he does with every other girl he dates."

Casey didn't bother to argue with him about hers and Derek's relationship. Instead, she turned, wanting to walk away, but he reached out and gripped her shoulder tightly, turning her back towards him. He looked extremely pissed, and Casey was almost afraid of the look in his eyes.

"Just steer clear of Venturi, got it?" he said, in a threatening tone.

Casey didn't answer. She shrugged out of his grip, and darted away as quickly as she possibly could, eager to find Terra.

- - - - - -

Casey found Terra standing in a circle of people, all looking to be around her age. They all greeted her casually, and from what she could gather, these must be the people she hung out with on a regular basis, for they seemed to find her presence perfectly natural , and they carried on chatting. Casey took this oppurtunity to grab Terra by the sleeve and pull her away from the group for a second.

"I need you to tell me something." Casey said in a rushed whisper. Terra leaned in close. "Is Shane. .. is he, well , violent?"

Terra studied Casey with curiousity, as though it was weird she should ask that question, or as though she should have known the answer to that already. She looked around for a moment and turned back to Casey, who was waiting anxiously for the answer to her question.

"He can be, Case." Terra said in a quiet voice. "He's usually not, not unless he considers someone as a serious threat."

Casey felt her heart drop, and she bit her lip nervously. Terra studied her again before saying;

"This is about Derek, isn't it?"

Casey looked back up at her friend, and nodded solemnly, worried now.

"He knows Derek, apparantly." Casey explained. "He told me to stay away from Derek because he'll break my heart, or something like that."

"Did you tell him that theres nothing going on between you two?"

"Well, I kept referring to Derek as my friend, if that counts for anything." Casey said, then remembered something else. "But then, when he said I'd never fall for Derek anyway, I accidently challenged it so ..."

"Why did you do that?" Terra asked, being serious for once, her face scrunched up in confusion. "I thought you didn't like Derek?"

"I don't." Casey said, but then she sighed. She was sick of denying things to herself, and to Terra. ''Alright, so maybe I do like him a little."

Terra squealed in delight, clapping her hands and hugging Casey in excitement.

"I told you!" she cried happily. "I _knew _you liked him, I just _knew _it."

Casey was still letting what she had just said sink in. She still couldn't fully believe the words herself. She liked Derek. She liked him. She was starting to have feelings for Derek Venturi. She was so messed up. She never once thought that she'd have feelings for Derek. But yet here she was, admitting to Terra that she liked him.

"I don't like him a lot or anything." Casey said, setting Terra straight. "But I'm starting to. But right now I can't worry about that. Do you think Shane would try anything on Derek?"

"Probably not." Terra said with a shrug. "Not yet, anyway. Not until he sees that you hanging out with Derek is actually a big threat to him. Right now, he probably realizes that Derek is a threat, but he probably doesn't see it as an issue yet. And that's a good thing."

Casey relaxed a little. There was just something about Shane that she didn't like. He was too controlling and he thought too much of himself. He had the potential to be violent, and Casey didn't exactly like that either. She made a mental note to herself to warn Derek to watch himself. From what Terra was saying, Shane wouldn't do anything right now, but she had a feeling that if things got more serious, Shane would have no hesitance in beating Derek up. And Casey wasn't going to let that happen.

* * *

So as you see, Casey's feelings are finally starting to show through for Derek, and she is finally admitting to herself that she likes him, which I guess is a big step for her. It took her a while to get there, but I really don't see Casey as the type to just suddenly say 'oh my god I like you!' . I see her as someone who takes their time to think things through a lot, and who lets feelings develop slowly. And we got to meet Shane in this chapter too. Arrogant huh? Anyway, review, and let me know how you felt about it all!


	14. Chances

**This chapter is a bit shorter, because it was sort of just a transition chapter, in my opinion. You'll see what I mean. Read, and review :) **

**Disclaimer: I do own it! I really really do. Alright, denial over, I own nothing. **

**Chapter Fourteen: Chances**

Casey lay on her couch on a Wednesday evening, almost a week after she had wound up in this alternate universe, and a few days after the party where she had met Shane. Terra was on the phone with her at the moment, but Casey was barely listening to a word that she was saying. She was pretty sure that she was talking about something her little brother had done, but she couldn't be certain. Her mind was concentrated, once more, on Derek.

He had been all she was thinking about for the past few days. She really wanted to be more clear on her feelings for him before she talked to him about it, which would require being around him a bit more, but that was proving to be extremely difficult, seeing as Derek hadn't made any effort to contact her since the night that she had babysat at his house; the night she had told him she didn't like him. She was pretty sure that he was avoiding her. Before, he'd called all the time, and now? She hadn't heard from him at all. She had to wonder if he was mad, if he was giving up, or if he was just embarassed. She hoped that just because she hadn't wanted to go out with him, he wasn't giving up on her entirely. That hurt her, that he wouldn't want to accept friendship.

But she knew that she wouldn't know what was going on unless she was talking to him, and, because it was so obvious that he wasn't going to call her, she decided to suck it up and call him. So she told Terra that she'd call her back, and held down on the end button for a second, before punching in the Venturi's number. It rang three times before someone picked up. Casey recognized the voice instantly as Edwin's.

"Edwin it's me, Casey." Casey said, just to make sure he knew. "Is your brother around?"

"Umm, you mean Derek?"

"No Edwin, the other brother." Casey said, rolling her eyes at his bluntness. "Of course I mean Derek. Is he there?"

"He uh, he's um, he's here, but ..."

"Put him on the phone, Edwin." Casey said, knowing that Edwin was struggling to come up with a lie to cover for his brother. Sighing, Edwin placed the phone down, and Casey could hear some conversation taking place in the background. She heard a bit of scuffling around and arguing, and after a moment, Derek picked up.

"Hello?" he snapped, a bit irritably.

"Well aren't you a stranger?" Casey said, wondering why he hadn't wanted to answer the phone in the first place. "Where have you been lately?"

"Uhh, you know... around." Derek said lazily. "Been keeping busy. I was going to call you but..."

"This is about what happened the other night isn't it?" Casey said quietly. "You've been avoiding me."

"That's not true." Derek said, perhaps a little too quickly. Casey didn't answer. "Okay, so maybe it is true, but can you blame me? It was a little bit embarassing."

"How so?" Casey asked, confused. "I told you I wanted to be friends."

''We are friends." Derek assured her. "It's just weird now. I mean, you don't know how weird this is for me. It's a pretty rare occasion when I tell a girl that I like her. Maybe that's because it's not too often that I actually like someone, but it's an even rarer occasion when a girl doesn't like me back. I think you may actually be the first. And that's not being arrogant, that's being honest."

"It's ... it's not that I don't like you, Derek." she started, taking a deep breath, trying to figure out how to explain her situation. "I've done a lot of thinking since then, and I'm starting to realize that maybe I sort of do."

"Don't do me any favours." Derek said bitterly. "I don't want your pity."

"It isn't pity, Derek, its true." she assured him quickly. "I think that maybe I do sort of like you, a bit, but not enough to act on it yet, you know?"

"Well, I guess that's better than not liking me at all." Derek said, though he didn't sound convinced, or anymore cheerful than he had been moments before. "What would it take for you to change those feelings?"

"I can't answer that, Derek." she said, shaking her head. "And not because I don't want to, but because I really don't know how. I think I just need to let my feelings develop on their own. But that's sort of hard when I'm not around you anymore, don't you think?"

Derek was silent for a moment, and Casey could tell that he was thinking about what to say. Finally, he spoke up, voice just as shaky and nervous as it had been when he had asked her if she liked him.

"How about this?" he started slowly. "Let me take you out. And before you say no, just hear me out here. Let me take you out tomorrow night, just so you can get a better idea of your feelings, you know? If you don't think it's going to work or something, we'll go right back to being friends. But I'm hoping that if you give this a chance, you might uh, you know, like me too."

Casey didn't answer for a moment, thinking his proposal over in her mind a couple of times. She knew that if she went out with him once, it could help her more clearly understand where her feelings for him stood. She could usually tell after a date with a guy just how much she liked him. On the other hand, if she went out with Derek, would that give Shane a reason to go after him? She knew Derek was pretty tough, but could he fight Shane? Shane was, after all, equally as strong as Derek. Then again, Shane didn't have to know. Taking a deep breath, she made her decision.

"Alright then, Venturi, I'll give you a chance." she said, knowing that she would never be able to stop wondering what could have happened if she didn't go through with this date.

she thought to herself sadly, 

Derek's tone was noticeably more cheerful when he spoke again.

"So you're saying yes?" he asked, as though he hadn't expected this from her. "You'll give this ... us, a try?"

"I must be going crazy, but yes, I'll give it a try." she said, rubbing her forehead. She was starting to get a headache from all of this thinking and over-analyzing. "Where are we going?"

"That, Ms.McDonald, is a surprise." he said, and she could tell he was smiling. "You won't know that until I pick you up tomorrow. Seven thirty. Be ready."

"See you then," Casey said, hanging up the phone.

She had no clue how tomorrow was going to go. It could go great, or it could be a disaster. She wasn't even sure how she wanted it to go. She knew that, if Derek treated her the same as he had been treating her lately, she was going to wind up liking him a lot more than she already did. But in a way, she was scared to like him. She wasn't sure what would happen if she returned to her real life. She had no way of knowing if Derek had liked her all along, even when they were stepsiblings. The idea seemed ridiculous, especially judging on the way he had treated her. She couldn't think of any reason why he would have treated her so badly as his stepsister if he had really liked her. Maybe his attraction to her was just in this world.

But she hadn't changed! That was the one thing that kept going through her head. She hadn't changed in the slightest. If he liked her now, wouldn't it make sense that he had liked her all along? Nothing would have stopped him.

Unless, of course, he had been scared of his feelings; scared that these thoughts were wrong. And she couldn't say she blamed him; she was scared too.

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**So as you could see, this was a transition chapter, leading to, obviously, the date :) Hope you liked it. Review, and more shall come :) Also, I posted a oneshot songfic today, entitled 'Sleepless Nights' , so check that out too, if you'd like :)**


	15. First Date

**Here is chapter fifteen :) I had major writers block on the next chapter, so I put off updating this one. But I got a random burst of inspiration tonight, so yay! Be thankful for rainy days. Anyway, here is the chapter. Read and review, I'd love to know your thoughts! And remember to check out my oneshot songfic entitled 'Sleepless Nights' :) **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing :( I do not own Life With Derek, I do not own Sunnyside Beach, and on the chance that L'Annettes is a real restaurant, let it be known that I do not own that either. Just covering all the bases. **

**Chapter Fifteen: First Date**

"Terra, what the hell was I thinking, agreeing to this date?" Casey cried, running a hand through her hair. "I can't go out with _Derek_!"

"Sure you can!" Terra argued, running the hair straightener down over a section of Casey's hair. "You're going on your date, and I'm going to stay here, dateless, and babysit Lizzie for you while your mother goes out."

Casey was a nervous wreck. Second thoughts were flashing through her mind endlessly, and she couldn't stop them. She kept thinking of everything that could go wrong tonight, of what going out with Derek could mean. It could mean that Shane would go after Derek, to get rid of the competition. It could mean she would manage to make a fool of herself in front of Derek; ( it was habit by now ) . Or worst of all, it could mean that she'd realize how much she really liked him, and then she'd have to deal with that. But she knew that either way, she'd have to just get through tonight, and deal with the consequences later.

Twenty minutes later, there was a knock at the door, and she looked up nervously. She was glued to the couch, unable to move. Terra looked over at her and grinned.

"Case, your date is here!" she said in a singsong voice . "Well aren't we awful rude? Aren't you going to answer the door?"

"Lizzie, answer the door." Casey said, and Terra rolled her eyes at her friend.

Lizzie bounded her way over to the door and swung it open, revealing Derek. Casey's' eyes widened when she saw him. She'd never really paid attention to the way Derek cleaned up for dates before, but she could see now, he cleaned up good. His hair seemed to lie flatter than it usually did, though it still stuck out at the ends. Casey was sort of glad of this, and she found it sort of cute, the way he always toyed with the ends of his hair, as though trying to make them flatten like the rest of his hair. He was wearing dark jeans, like usual, but instead of one of his t-shirts and his black leather jacket, he wore a navy blue button up shirt, with a white polo shirt underneath. His hands were in his pockets as he grinned at Lizzie.

"Hey, Liz." he said. "Is Case ready?"

Lizzie stepped back to let Derek in, and he took a step into the apartment. His eyes fell on Casey and he too, seemed impressed by her appearance. She had gotten Terra to help her get ready. She was wearing a pair of black dress pants, with a low-cut pink and white striped shirt. Terra had done her hair for her as well, and it fell straight partway, before it ran off into ringlets that fell around her shoulders. She looked up at Derek nervously and stood up, crossing the room to stand in front of him.

"Wow, Case, you look...uhh..." he stammered, apparantly at a loss for words. She raised her eyebrows at him.

"You look beautiful." he finally got out, and she couldn't help but smile. She'd heard Derek refer to girls as hot, or as a babe, but she'd never heard him call anyone beautiful. Finding her voice, she said;

"You don't look so bad yourself, Venturi."

He grinned, and she turned to Terra, who was hiding a smile. Casey could just tell she was analyzing every word that Derek said, and every last inch of his appearance.

"Derek, this is my best friend, Terra." she said, motioning to the girl, who smiled and gave a half wave. "Terra, this is Derek."

"It's great to finally meet you." Terra said, and Casey knew she approved of Derek. "So where are you two going?"

"I wish I knew." Casey said, glancing at Derek hopefully, but he smirked and shook his head.

"That's for me to know, and you to wonder, Case." he said. "It's a part of my mystery."

"Oh, so now you have mystery?" she asked in mock surprise. "I suppose it goes with your incredible charm?"

"You're catching on." he grinned, and she rolled her eyes at him. "You ready?"

She took a deep breath and glanced over at Terra, who was smiling at her, her eyes darting towards the door, then back to Casey, as if to say 'get going'. Turning back to Derek, Casey nodded, and followed him out the door. They walked down the hall in silence, neither of them able to think of anything to say. It was unusual for a silence to be associated with Casey and Derek. Whether they were arguing, insulting each other, or just talking, there was always noise. But it was five minutes into the car ride before either of them spoke.

"You haven't eaten yet, have you?" Derek asked her hopefully, and she shook her head. "Good. We're going to L'Annettes."

"Are you serious?" Casey cried, surprised. "Derek, that place is almost impossible to get a reservation for, not to mention it costs a fortune. How did you...what did...how?"

"I'm Derek Venturi.' he said simply , with a shrug, and she gave him a pointed look.

"So was it your ego that got you the reservations?"

"I was kidding." he said, smiling. "I'm friends with the managers son, so he was able to get us in."

"And the cost?" she asked, still unable to believe that he'd gone through so much trouble. Derek usually just took his dates to a movie, or out for dinner at one of those cheap places. He never spent more than he had to, that was for sure. But he looked over at Casey now, and shrugged.

"I had some money saved up." he dismissed. "It doesn't matter. Just enjoy it, would you? I stick by my word, you are a _very_ difficult girl."

Once they arrived at the restauraunt, and were seated in a private booth, they read over their menus.

"Any clue what you're getting?" Derek asked her, as he placed his menu down on the table and leaned back, watching Casey carefully.

"Number seven looks good." she said, not looking up.

She was vaguely aware of the fact that Derek picked up his menu and opened it up to look at what she was ordering. As she placed her menu down, he looked back at her, horrified.

"Vegetarian special?" he got out, choking on his own words. "I didn't know you were a vegetarian."

"I'm not." she said with a shrug, and he looked rather relieved. "The meal just looks good."

After their food arrived, and they began talking, Casey found herself relaxing into the casual atmosphere that she was beginning to expect when she was with Derek. Nothing felt akward anymore, she just felt like she did every other time she had hung around with him this week. And she liked that. Finally, she decided to bring up a topic that she had been wondering about since her chat with Shane. Clearing her throat, she spoke up.

"Derek, do you know a Shane Wilder?" she asked, biting her lip nervously. Derek looked up, and there was an almost angry gleam in his eyes as he responded.

"Yeah, I know Shane Wilder." he replied, his tone harsh. "Why do you ask that? Do you know him?"

"He's my ex-boyfriend." Casey said, watching Derek carefully for any emotion. His face seemed to darken a bit, and he wouldn't take his eyes away from her. "He said he knew you, and I had to wonder if something happened between you two before, because he seems to really hate you."

"I'll bet he does." Derek muttered angrily. "Look, Case, me and Shane, we don't exactly see eye to eye. We're total opposites."

"Really? Because I sort of see some similarities between the two of you."

Derek stared at her, and she could have sworn that she saw a glimpse of hurt flash across his face momentarily. But when she looked again, it was gone, and he looked serious and sort of angry. When he spoke again, his tone almost scared her.

"Never say that again." he said angrily. "I am nothing like Shane, understand?"

"Derek, I-"

"I need you to realize that I'm not like him, Casey." Derek said, and his tone was urgent. "I'd never do anything to hurt you."

"To...what?" Casey asked, completely lost now. "What do you mean, to hurt me?"

"You really don't know the guy all that well, do you, Casey?" he asked, shaking his head. "He just doesn't respect girls, not at all."

"You don't mean that he like..."

Casey couldn't say what she was thinking. She didn't want to believe that she had gone out with a guy who took advantage of girls.

"No, but I'm sure that he's capable of it." Derek said, leaning back in his seat. "He tried to before, but he got in a lot of shit for that, and I think he's cleaned up his act a little since then. But that doesn't mean he's not capable of doing something again. He's just gone back to his old ways of being a heartbreaker now."

"And that would be different from you, how?" Casey asked, thinking back to the old Derek. The second the words left her mouth, she regretted them. There was hurt evident in Derek's features now, it was clear.

"I'm sorry." she said quickly, looking away. "I never meant that."

"Is that what you think of me, Casey?" he asked. "Look at me. Is that what you think of me?"

"No, Derek. Thats not what I think of you." she said honestly. "I did, at first, when your brother told me that you had a new girl every day, but I know now that I was wrong about you."

And she did. She was seeing now, that she may have been wrong about Derek all along, even when he was her stepbrother. Sure, he dated a lot of girls, but in all actuality, he wasn't that bad. Maybe he never had been. She looked back up at him as he responded.

"Whatever you think about me, I need you to remember that I am nothing like Shane." Derek said. "Do you understand that, Casey?"

Swallowing hard, she nodded, knowing that he needed reassurance.

"Yeah, I understand that." she said truthfully. "I do now."

"Good." he said, relaxing a bit and grabbing his coat. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm ready." she said, grabbing her own sweater and following Derek to the counter, where he paid for both of their meals and led her back to the car.

"Where are we going now?" she asked him as they drove down the road.

"You'll see." he said with a smirk, and kept driving. Finally, they pulled up in the parking lot by Sunnyside Beach.

"Now I know you have been here before." Derek said, as he got out of the car and started making his way towards the edge of the water with her. "Don't tell me you haven't been."

"I have been." she said with a smile as they came to a stop by the edge of the water. "My Mom and Dad used to bring me and my sister here all the time when we were younger."

Casey looked around as the wind blew gently around them. There was only a few other people on the beach, most of them families or couples, just walking along or relaxing in plastic chairs, enjoying the sunset. She could remember all of the times she'd spent here as a kid with her own family, and smiled at the memory. She was still remembering when she felt a hand slip into her own. She looked down to see Derek holding her hand. Her breath caught for a moment. She looked up at him, and he looked nervous, as though waiting for a reaction. After a moment, she smiled at him, and he seemed to relax a bit as they began to walk along the edge of the beach, hand in hand. She found it strange how natural it seemed to be holding hands with Derek, almost as though it was nothing new. Her hand fit his perfectly, and neither of them questioned it. Neither of them wanted to.

"So, tell me, was going out with me as bad as you thought it would be?" he asked, looking over at her with a small smile. She laughed.

"Not at all." she said honestly. "Im having a good time."

"So you don't regret going out with me?" he asked hopefully. "You don't think it was a mistake?"

"Not at all." she said , without thinking, as they stopped walking.

_'What am I doing?' _she asked herself. She was getting in way too deep here. She knew that she shouldn't have enjoyed going out with Derek. She knew that she shouldn't be enjoying holding his hand. But she did, and she was. Because if there was one thing she was certain of now, it was that her feelings had changed. Whatever negative feelings she had ever had for Derek Venturi had disappeared. Because she liked him. A lot. She couldn't deny it anymore, not to Terra, not to Derek, not to her family. Not even to herself. She was falling for Derek Venturi. And she could admit it. She wasn't going to pretend that she hadn't liked going out with him. She wasn't going to pretend that it felt wrong holding his hand. She wasn't fooling anyone but herself.

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**So there was the chapter ! I think you all might like the next chapter, and there was some good Dasey in this chapter! Review, and more shall come :)**


	16. Doorstep Encounters

**I had major writers block on this chapter, but I am okay with the way it turned out, I think. It was a change from what I had planned originally so I just sort of went along with it. And I was really wanting to hold off on posting this chapter until tomorrow but I did a lot of writing today and got a lot taken care of so I'ev decided to be nice !! Anyway, thanks for the reviews everyone and, as usual, keep them coming . They motivate me to write more . Im sure quite a few of you will enjoy this chapter. And if you did REVIEW IT !!!! Actually, review it even if you didn't like it, hehe!**

**Disclaimer: I'll keep wishing that I own it, but deep down, I know the truth :( **

**Chapter Sixteen: Doorstep Encounters**

By the time Derek had pulled up in the parking lot of Casey's apartment building, Casey was almost wishing that the night didn't have to end. She had actually had a pretty good time with Derek. They'd spent about another forty five minutes walking along the beach, talking. Not once did Derek make another move on her, but he did keep a hold of her hand the whole time they were on the beach. He was taking things slow, and Casey had to admit, she respected that he was so ... well ... respectful towards her. He never once made her feel pressured, and she liked that.

When Derek got out of the car and followed her towards the front door of the apartment building, she turned around and smiled.

"You know, you don't have to walk me to the door."

"I know I don't have to." Derek said, shrugging. "But I'm going to do it anyway."

She laughed, and they remained silent until they reached her floor. They stopped outside her apartment door, and Casey smiled at Derek.

"Thanks, Derek." she said.

There was an akward, clichéd 'end of the date' silence. She just knew that Terra was inside, waiting to hear every last detail of her date with Derek. But for now she stood and waited for Derek to say something, anything. If there was one question she didn't want him to ask, it was whether or not she liked him any more than she had before the date. It wasn't that she didn't know the answer. She did. The answer was perfectly clear to her. She liked him , a lot. She wanted to go out with him again, as crazy as the thought seemed to her. But she was still afraid. Admitting her feelings to Derek would be opening herself up for pain when and if she returned home. But as she looked up at Derek, she knew exactly what he was going to ask.

"So tell me." he started, smirking. "Have your feelings for me changed any?"

"Yeah." Casey admitted, leaning back against the wall. "Yeah, they have. A lot actually."

"Alright, so is that a good thing, or a bad thing?" Derek asked her, looking half hopeful, half worried.

She smirked right back at him.

"It depends on your perspective." she told him, and he raised an eyebrow. "If you're wondering whether or not I like you the same as I did before, the answer would be no."

Derek's face fell, and he looked as though someone had just slapped him across the face. He bowed his head down, and Casey rushed to explain.

"You're so stupid sometimes, you know that right?" she said, laughing. "I don't like you the same as I did before. I like you more. A lot more."

Derek looked up, eyes wide, barely daring to believe it. He studied Casey carefully for a moment, as though searching for the slightest hint of dishonesty within her features. Finding none, he stammered an answer.

"You're not messing with me, are you?" he asked, sounding hopeful. "Because if you are, it isn't funny."

"I'm not playing with you, Derek, I'm telling you the truth." she laughed, then softened. "I really like you."

She paused, and although there was a silence, neither of them broke it, because the way she had said it hinted that she wasn't finished. She bit her lip for a moment, thinking, before she continued.

"You know... it's funny. I think maybe I always did like you. I was just ... scared to admit it." she said, and she realized then that even she didn't know what she meant. She wasn't even thinking about what she was saying anymore; the thoughts were just sort of letting themselves out. She wasn't even sure what she meant when she said she had liked him all along. She didn't know whether or not she meant since their parents had married, or since she had been thrown into this alternate life. Because the more she gave thought to it, the more she was unsure of whether or not she had in fact liked Derek before. All she could remember feeling before was hate, but she was starting to realize that maybe she, like Derek, had been masking other feelings all along. After all, Derek hadn't changed, not really. Sure, his attitude towards her had changed entirely. But that didn't mean that Derek himself had changed. Maybe he had always been this way, and she had just been too busy fighting with him to see it. Maybe she brought out the worst in him. Or maybe he brought out the worst in her. She couldn't tell the difference. Perhaps it worked both ways. She wondered that if they had just gotten along from the beginning, would they have seen the good sides of each other, instead of the edgy, moody, competitive sides.

Only then did she realize that Derek was studying her carefully, trying to piece together the meaning of what she had just said.

"What do you mean, you were scared to admit it?" he asked, looking hurt. "You were scared to like me? Why? You knew I liked you back."

"It's ... complicated, trust me." Casey said, shaking her head. "You wouldn't be able to understand it."

Derek placed a hand on either side of the wall next to her, trapping her in. He leaned in, until his face was only about ten inches from hers. He smirked, yet it was soft at the same time.

"Oh yeah?" he questioned, almost whispering. "Try me."

"It's not worth explaining." she whispered back. "You already think I'm crazy, lets not add to that by throwing in mixed up explanations."

"Is it me you that you're scared of, or is it your feelings?" he asked softly, and Casey could feel his warm breath on her face, he was that close. She looked him straight in the eye.

"My feelings, obviously." she assured him truthfully. "I'd never be scared of you."

"Why not?" he asked, pouting. "I can be threatening when I want to be. Just ask Darren."

"Who is Darren?" Casrey asked, confused.

"Exactly." Derek said, smirking again.

Casey rolled her eyes and smacked him lightly on the arm. He laughed and pretended like it hurt, when they both knew full well that it hadn't. When Derek stopped laughing, he looked her right in the eye, and they both became very serious all of a sudden. Casey was aware of how close they were, of the way he had her pinned in against the wall. As one of his hands lifted to brush a strand of hair away from her eyes, he moved closer, his chest pressed against hers now. He was looking directly into her eyes, and her heart started beating at a furious pace, one she'd never thought imagineable. She knew what he was going to do, and truth be told, she had every intention on letting Derek kiss her. She had to admit, she was surprised when, instead of his face coming closer to hers, it stopped two or three inches away from her own.

"Casey..." he whispered slowly. She studied him curiously, unsure of what he was going to say. He bit his lip before continuing; "Would you hate me if I kissed you right now?"

Understanding, Casey smiled softly at him and shook her head.

"I'd hate you if you didn't." she told him, and he smirked, before leaning forward again. He stopped right right in front of her lips, as though giving her a chance to back out if she wanted to, but when she didn't, he closed the distance between them by brushing his lips against hers, softly at first. Perhaps he too, felt the sudden rush of adrenaline that seemed to course through their entire bodies, because he pulled back for a moment, staring right into her eyes with a look Casey had never seen him give her before. And just as suddenly as he pulled away, he had leaned back in, and was kissing her furiously this time, and with so much passion that she never wanted to break away. He placed one hand on her side, and she felt the other hand tangle through her hair. Her hands were roaming up and down his back and sides, tugging at his shirt, unable to decide where they wanted to be. She felt him smirking against her mouth as his kisses changed from long and slow to short and quick and back again. He too, seemed too caught up in this to make up his mind on what he wanted.

Something in the back of Casey's mind screamed that this had to be wrong, that this had to be immoral. But all of her rationality seemed to have disappeared along with Derek's hesitance, and she was lost in Derek's touch, and Derek's kiss. A small part of her mind registered that all of the things she had heard about Derek, all of the girls who had told her that Derek was a great kisser, that had all been true. He was an excellent kisser.

She was so lost in his touch that she didn't hear the apartment door opening up behind them, and she almost never heard the deliberate cough coming from the doorway of her apartment. But not quite. Hearing it, she wrenched herself away from Derek, and turned to see Terra standing in the doorway with a wide grin on her face.

"Sorry to uh ... _interrupt." _Terra said, and Casey could tell she was fighting back laughter. "I just heard voices and thought I'd come and see who was out here. But I'll uh, let you two finish up out here."

"I'll be in in a few minutes, Terra." Casey said, blushing, and Terra turned away muttering a 'Ill bet you will' before closing the door. Casey was almost certain she heard a squeal from inside the door, and she turned back to Derek, giving an akward laugh.

"So uh..." she started, unsure of what to say. He saved her from having to figure it out by kissing her again. She laughed, and tried to pull back, but he was persistant, and wouldn't allow it.

"Derek!" she laughed, finally pulling back. He looked at her pleadingly. "I've got to go."

"No you don't." he said, leaning forward and kissing her lightly. "You don't have to go anywhere."

"I stuck Terra with my little sister for three hours, Derek." she reminded him. "I think it's time I free her."

"I don't think she's going anywhere without a recap." Derek said, looking her in the eye and motioning towards the door. "Do you have to go?"

"Yes I have to go." she said, rolling her eyes. "I had a really good time tonight, Derek."

"Yeah, well so did I." he said, grinning. "I'll give you a call sometime soon?"

"I'd love that." she said, smiling at him. "Well ... thanks again. See you later."

Derek leaned down and kissed her one more time. He kept his lips right over hers as he responded.

"Night." was all he said, before kissing her cheek quickly and darting off down the hall towards the elevator.

Casey leaned back against the wall again, staring up at the ceiling in amazement. She had just had the most amazing kiss of her life, and it had been with Derek Venturi, the last person she ever would have expected to kiss her at all. Something in the back of her mind reminded her that she was supposed to be on a 'break' with Max, in her old life. Another part of her kept telling her that, in that same life, Derek was her stepbrother. But oddly, none of that seemed to matter to her anymore. All that mattered was that she knew now there was something between her and Derek. And she was willing to make that 'something' work.

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**So, Im hoping after all of that, everyone liked that part, at least. Now review, and there will be more to come!! -claps hands -**


	17. Jerks and Heroes

**Hey everyone. The rainy weather kept up over the weekend, so I did a lot of writing , basically. There was absolutely nothing else to do so ... here we are. This chapter is pretty short. I tried to make it longer but I just couldn't, but the next one is actually pretty long, if that makes up for it any. Read and REVIEW. You know by now that I love feedback. I've just realized that this story is turning out longer than I expected but I hope thats alright :) By the way, most of you are going to hate Shane by the end of this chapter, if you don't already lol. And I know theres few that like him, judging by your reviews, lol. Enjoy. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Lets not rub it in. **

**Chapter Seventeen: Jerks and Heroes**

Casey couldn't move for at least five minutes after Derek left. She was still standing against the wall, amazed by what had just happened, by how right she had felt when she was kissing Derek. Nobody had done that to her before. Not Sam, not Max. Derek had made her feel safe, made her feel like she was where she belonged. And she loved that feeling. She could have stayed out there forever, basking in the glory of the past few hours, but she knew that Terra was inside waiting to hear how Casey's date had gone. So reluctantly, she pushed herself up off of the wall, and opening her apartment door slowly, strolling in. She tossed her purse to the floor by the door and hung up her coat on the coat rack . Making her way into the living room, she saw Terra, who was sitting on the couch watching TV. Upon seeing Casey enter the living room, she flicked the TV off and glanced at Casey expectantly.

All Casey could do was smile.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Seriously, Case, you are still glowing, I swear." Terra said, grinning at her friend as Casey leaned back against the wall, waiting for Terra.

"I don't know what it is, Terra, but there's just ... something about him, you know?"

"And to think, two days ago it was 'I don't like him, Terra' , 'He's not my boyfriend, Terra'."

"Well he's not." Casey said, laughing as Terra held a red shirt up to her front.

"Yeah, I'll ask you that in a day or two." Terra snorted. "I would have thought it was official now, judging by what I saw last night. Expect to hear from him again."

"Shut up." Casey laughed.

The girls were at the mall and Terra was trying to find a new shirt. So far, they'd gone to six stores, and Terra hadn't found a thing she liked. If there was one thing Casey had learned about her it was that she was an extremely picky shopper. Everything had a flaw. But Casey was patient. She was standing idly by the wall of the store Terra was in now, waiting for her friend to finish in the change room, and observing the ongoings of those around her. She was so caught up that she almost never spotted a tall boy walking towards her. It was the voice that snapped her back to attention.

"Looking for anyone in particular?" it said, and Casey looked up to see Shane standing in front of her. "Hey, Casey."

''Hi." she said, showing no emotion whatsoever in her voice.

"I've got to talk to you." he said coldly. She looked at him expectantly. "A friend of mine told me you were with Venturi yesterday."

"His name is Derek, and yes I was." she said, shrugging. She knew there was no sense in pretending like she hadn't been. That would just make him angrier. Besides, maybe he didn't know that it had been a date, if Casey was at all lucky. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." Shane said, folding his arms. "I thought you told me he was just your friend."

So he knew. Casey didn't want Shane to do anything to Derek, but from what Derek had said to Casey yesterday, Casey got the feeling that Shane probably wouldn't stand a chance against Derek. Derek had so much rage in him when it came to Shane that he could probably knock him out with a single punch.

"Well things change, Shane." Casey said. "And you can't expect me to sit around forever, dateless, because you don't want me to go out with anyone else. It doesn't work that way."

"It did before."

"Like I said, things change." she said with a smirk. She could tell that he was shaken by this sudden loss of control. He was staring at her with shock and shaking with anger. After a moment, he glared at her.

"What kind of bullshit has Venturi been putting into your head?" Shane asked angrily . "What the hell did he say to you?"

"It doesn't really matter what Derek said." Casey said, staring him straight in the eye. "Fact is, maybe I don't want to hang around with someone like you anymore."

"You've been hanging around with me for a year now, and nothing like this has ever happened."

"Well then it was a long time coming, wasn't it?" Casey snapped. "It's got nothing to do with Derek. Maybe I've just finally come to my senses and realized the sort of person you are."

"Casey, you even agreed with me that Derek's not that different than I am!" Shane cried in exasperation. "What happened to that, huh?"

"Well I was wrong, alright?" she said. "Derek's not like you, not at all."

Shane stood there for a moment, taking in everything that she had just said. He opened his mouth and closed it a couple of times, apparantly at a loss for what to say. Finally, he let out a growl.

"I'm gonna kill him!" he said, stomping his foot against the ground agressively. "I'm gonna find that lying bastard and show him what he gets for making up shit about me!"

"What makes you think he told me anything about you?"

"Because this isn't you, Casey!" Shane cried. "Sure, we go on dates when we break up, but you always come back to me."

"Well, we all make mistakes, right?" Casey asked with a smirk, and Shane shoved her shoulder, pushing her back against the wall again. She fell silent once more.

"I don't want you hanging out with Venturi anymore, got it?" he said threateningly, voice shaking. "And Im not asking this time, Im telling. You're not allowed to hang out with him anymore."

"And who are you to make that sort of call?" Casey asked, angry. She couldn't stand guys who thought that they could control someone else.

"I'm your boyfriend."

"No you're not, actually." Casey corrected him. "You're my ex boyfriend. And it's going to stay that way. You're a self important, arrogant, jerk; and I want absolutely nothing to do with you."

He cursed and hit her on the arm. He didn't hit her too hard, but it still hurt. He did it so naturally that Casey had to wonder if this was a common occurance. Everything that everyone had ever told her about Shane was starting to piece together. She had wondered why she had stayed with such a terrible person for so long, and now she was thinking that maybe this was her answer. Maybe violence was always what he used to get what he wanted. She gulped nervously. She was half afraid to say anything , for fear that he would do something else. He opened his mouth to speak again, but suddenly a male voice spoke up behind Shane, speaking angrily.

"You touch her again, and there will be _hell _to pay."

* * *

**Casey's got A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E . Yay! So yeah, most of you probably hate Shane now, or else hate me for coming up with such a horrid character. So who do you think the person behind Shane is? Let me know ! And review the chapter in general! There was almost twenty reviews on Chapter 16, so I was pleased with that ! Expect an update soon!**


	18. Reassurance

**So almost every one of you thought that the person behind Shane was Derek. Well it wasn't. Sydmoonlight, your guess was closest, congrats :) There will obviously be a Derek/Shane confrontation later on. They will meet, and soon. Just not right now. This chapter is longer than the last, luckily, the last one was really short. Anyway, not much to say except here is chapter eighteen, and enjoy ! Oh, and please review :) **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

**Chapter Eighteen: Reassurance**

Shane still had a hold on Casey's shoulder when he whipped around to see who it was that had interrupted his little tirade. Casey half expected it to be Derek, but it wasn't. She peered around Shane to see Sam standing there, glaring at Shane, ready to kill.

"Who the hell are you?" Shane asked, face scrunched up with confusion. "You look sort of familar."

"The name is Sam. I hang out with Derek." Sam said, not breaking eye contact. He took a step towards Shane. "And I really don't think Derek would like to hear that Shane Wilder is pushing around one of his friends- a girl, no less. Don't you know it's wrong to hit a girl, Shane?"

Shane was staring at Sam incredulously, unable to believe that someone could come out of nowhere and start lecturing him on right and wrong.

"What happens between me and Casey _really_ isn't any of your buisness, Sam." Shane said, his grip on Casey's shoulder tightening. "So I really think you should just leave us alone. We were talking."

"No, it looked like you were yelling and pushing her around, and she was trying to tell you that she doesn't want anything to do with you." Sam clarified, taking Shanes arm and hauling it away from Casey, who still couldn't find it in her to move.

"We're having problems, alright? But that doesn't mean we need Venturi's little sidekicks stepping in to interfere." Shane snarled. "I think that Venturi's done enough interfering already. He's already got my girlfriend turned against me, what more does he want?"

"For the last time, Shane, I am not your girlfriend." Casey said, voice shaky. She was scared, but the last thing she wanted was for Sam to think they were still together, and go off and tell Derek.

"Shut up." Shane muttered, turning back to Sam. "And _you _get lost."

"For starters, I'm not finished with you." Sam said. "And secondly, don't tell Casey to shut up. If she wants to talk, she can talk. And if she's telling you that she doesn't want to go out with you anymore, you need to learn to accept it. Unless, of course, you want me to make it a little more clear for you."

Shane thought for a moment, before backing away from Casey, his eyes darting back and forth from her to Sam. He glared at them.

"You tell Venturi to watch his back." he said threateningly. "And if I hear that he's made up anymore shit about me ... I won't be so forgiving."

Shane stalked away, and Sam placed a hand on Casey's shoulder softly.

"You okay?" he asked her, and she stood up straight before nodding. "Did he hurt you?"

"Not really, he doesn't seem to hit hard with girls." Casey said thankfully. ''Thank you for telling him off though. He's such a jerk."

"Hey, you mean a lot to Derek." Sam said. "And Derek is my best friend. I had to do it."

"Either way, thank you." Casey said, then glared in the direction Shane had gone. "He disgusts me."

'Derek tells me he's that he's your ex boyfriend though." Sam said, leading her towards the bench in front of the store Terra was in. They sat down there together as Sam waited for Casey's answer.

"Yeah. We used to go out but ... but I don't see anything in him anymore." Casey said with a shrug. "He's way too controlling. And the violence thing sort of turns me away too, you know?"

"Yeah I get what you mean." Sam said, nodding. "I mean, beating up guys is one thing but for a guy to beat up a girl ... that's low. Thats really low, and I can tell you one thing, if theres anything Derek hates, it's that.; when guys show no respect for girls whatsoever."

Casey's mind involuntarily flashed back to the many times that Derek had disrespected women in her old life. His wall had been covered in posters of half naked girls, he'd almost cheated on Kendra even. But she reminded herself that in the end, Derek hadn't cheated on Kendra, and the little things like posters didn't even compare to the way Shane treated women. Those were two completely different types of disrespect, and Derek, at least, posessed the better of the two.

"Yeah, Derek's a good guy." Casey said fondly, remembering how hard he had tried last night to make sure Casey knew that he was nothing like Shane.

_'I'd never do anything to hurt you, Casey'. _he had said to her. And she knew now, that maybe this was what he had meant. Maybe he had known the way Shane could be when it came to girls. At least she knew that she could trust Derek.

"I'll tell you one thing." Sam said, his hands in his pockets. "Derek won't be very happy if he hears that Shane was treating you like that. He had no right to hit you."

"Shane's being rough again?" came a voice from above them, and Casey looked up to see Terra standing above them, looking concerned. "Oh, sweetheart, that's got to stop. I thought you talked to him about that."

'Wait, _again_?" Sam asked, eyes widening. "You mean he's done this before?"

"Well duh, he's Shane Wilder, that's the way he is." Terra said, sitting down next to Casey. "He tends to get rough. But he's been changing. He hasn't hit anyone, especially a girl, in over three months now. I really thought that he'd moved past the violence stage and learned to solve things with words but ... I guess not. He's never really rough with Casey though. He just pushs her around a little sometimes."

Terra paused, studying Sam for a moment curiously.

"Wait a second, who are you?" she asked, shaking her head. "You're not Derek."

"Brilliant observation, Terra." Casey said, smiling slightly. "This is Sam, Derek's best friend. He just told off Shane which was, personally, the highlight of my day. Sam, this is my best friend, Terra."

"Hey." Sam said, extending a hand, which Terra shook, smiling. "What are you ladies doing today?"

"Terra's trying to find a shirt, but she is unfortunately picky, leading me to believe that we will be here for hours." Casey said, all in one breath, earning her a glare from Terra. "How about you?"

"I was here picking up a gift for my older sister." Sam said, shrugging. "It's her birthday tomorrow , and I completely forgot about getting her something. But hey, better late than never. I hear you and Derek had a good date last night?"

"Yeah, that was my first thought too when I found the two of them attached at the lips in the hallway." Terra said, and Casey blushed, shoving her playfully. "Well it's the truth!"

"Shut up." Casey mumbled, putting her head in her hands, cheeks red with embarassment. She finally got the nerve to look up and see both Sam and Terra smirking at her. "God, would you two quit it?"

"I can't really help it." Terra said, shrugging. "It's a habit by now. I just- oh wow. That top is really cute. I'll be right back."

With that, she leapt up and darted off towards a store to their right, where there was a black and white tank top on display for half price. Casey rolled her eyes and turned back to Sam, who was looking at her with interest. Casey shifted a bit, unsure of what to say after Terras remark about what had happened between her and Derek last night.

"Derek's crazy about you, you know that, right?" Sam said out of nowhere, not taking his eyes off of her. "All he talks about is you. It's pretty amazing seeing as you two have only known each other for about a week and a half now. There's tons of girls that Derek has known for longer than that, but he doesn't talk about them as much as he does about you."

"Well what does he say about me?" Casey asked curiously, flattered by Sams words.

"I don't know really. I tune out on half of his gushy crap." Sam said, but Casey shot him a look, and he sighed. "Fine. He says that he finds you really pretty, and he says you are the most attractive girl that he knows-"

Casey's eyes had lowered from Sams, and perhaps he noticed, because when he spoke again, his tone was softer and his volume had decreased noticeably.

"And he also said that you are the most amazing person he has ever met." Sam continued, and Casey's eyes shot up again. "Not because of what's on the outside, but because he thinks that you're funny, sensitive, caring and ... he did mention psychotic, but I don't know what thats all about."

Casey laughed, knowing exactly what Derek's words were all about, and not feeling insulted at all by it. She smiled at Sam.

"It's a long story, trust me. But..." she trailed off for a moment. "Did Derek really say all of that about me?"

"Like I said, he talks about you all the time." Sam said, nodding. "The boy's crazy about you. You don't know how crushed he was when you said you didn't like him back... or how happy he was when you agreed to go out with him. He was a whole different person."

Sam was quiet for a moment.

"So do you really like him back?" he asked, as though searching for some truth in what Derek had told him. Casey didn't have to think twice about her answer.

"Yeah, I really do." she said, smiling contently. It felt good to admit that without feeling guilty. But another question was on her mind, and she took a deep breath before asking it. "Sam, do you think that Shane could actually hurt Derek?"

Sam didn't seem surrpised by her question; in fact it was almost as though he had been expecting her to ask it.

"Don't worry about Derek." he said to her. "He can take care of himself. He's gotten in his fair share of fights in his lifetime, and he's never gotten himself into too much trouble. Him and Shane have been at each others throats before. Neither of them have ever did anything to each other before, and if anything started, I know Derek could take on Shane. Trust me."

Casey was not totally reassured, but nonetheless, she dropped the matter.

- - - - -

It was nine o'clock at night and, once again, Casey had to babysit. If there was one thing that she didn't like about her new life, it was how little she saw her mother. She supposed it was hard, having to support two kids on one income, so she needed to fit in every hour of work possible. And when she wasn't working, she probably got lonely, with just her daughters to talk to. It must be good to be able to go to her aunt Fionas every now and then for some adult company. Casey had tagged along with her one day, only to find that things were bad between her and Vicky. She was confused about that at first, because they had been fine over the past few months, but then she remembered that Derek had been the one that had convinced them to talk things out. Without him, they had stayed mad at each other.

So here she was, on a Friday night, nine days after she had wound up in this life, babysitting Lizzie once again. There was a thunder and lightning storm outside, and the power had been knocked out. Lizzie was in a bad mood, because the rain and the storm had cancelled her soccer game, so she was stuck at home, watching a movie on her portable DVD player. Casey was reading a novel that she'd found in her room when there was a knock on the door. She hopped up, placing her novel down on the coffee table, and opened the door. She was surprised to see Derek standing there, his hair soaked and his face red.

"Derek?" she asked, glancing at him for a moment. "What are you doing here?"

"Sam told me what happened at the mall with Shane earlier." Derek said, running a hand through his hair to try and shake some of the water out of it . "The power's gone so I couldn't call you, but ... I wanted to make sure you were okay. So, are you?"

"I'm fine." Casey assured him, nodding. "Come inside; you look half frozen."

"Well, it's raining." he said, as she held back the door and allowed him to step inside. "And thank you. But that doesn't matter right now. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Derek, I'm fine." she said again, finding his concern somewhat cute. "Honestly, I am. It's happened before, apparantly."

She hadn't meant for the last word to come out, but it didn't matter, because Derek wasn't paying enough attention to detail to notice. His face had darkened when she spoke, and his eyes widened.

"What do you mean, it's happened before?" he cried angrily, and she put a hand over his mouth.

"Derek, be quiet, my sister's home." she said, lowering her hand slowly. She grabbed his hand. "Come with me."

She led him into her bedroom and shut the door. He flopped down in a light blue bean bag chair that was on the right side of the room and she sat on her bed, leaning up against the headboard.

"There. I don't want Lizzie to hear anything about Shane, alright?" Casey said, still keeping her voice down. "And yes, Shane has been known to get ... rough, but he doesn't actually hurt me, okay?"

''Sam said he shoved you pretty hard earlier." Derek said, wincing at the thought. "I don't trust him, Casey. Please, stay away from him."

Casey registered that both boys were now asking her to stay away from the other. But there was a difference. Shane demanded, with no good reason, while Derek asked her not to see Shane, and he did have a pretty good reason. He actually cared about her well being while Shane just didn't want someone else moving in on his 'territory'.

"Derek, I tried to tell him that I wanted nothing to do with him." Casey told him truthfully. "That was when he shoved me. He seems to think he owns me or something. He told me to stay away from you. And when I said no to that, he hit me on the arm."

"He _hit _you?" Derek asked, shooting right up and crossing the room, sitting in front of Casey. "Sam left that part out. Let me see."

"Derek, there's no mark or anything." Casey assured him, but he rolled her sleeve up over her shoulder anyway, examining it carefully. "It wasn't that hard. I promise."

Derek looked up at her with sad eyes, before pulling her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he held her against his chest for a moment, breathing in the scent of her hair. After a moment, he pulled back and allowed her to lie back against the headboards again. He looked determined and enraged all at once.

"If that bastard ever touches you again, you tell me, alright, Casey?" he said in a harsh voice. "He lays a hand on you again and he's dead. I'll kill him."

"It's not me I'm worried about." she said, shaking her head. "I don't want him to go after you. I mean, what he did to me wasn't even bad. I barely felt it. But Terra told me he can be really violent and ... I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Is that why you asked Sam if he thought Shane could really hurt me?" Derek asked quietly, and she looked him right in the eye. "He told me about it. Case, I'm flattered that you care so much but ... I'm fine, okay? Really, I am. If there is one person I'm not afraid of, it's Shane Wilder. I just don't want him to do anything to you."

"He's not going to do anything to me, alright?" Casey said. She placed her hand over his and smiled. "Smile."

Derek grinned and entwined his fingers with hers softly. Casey wasn't sure where this whole thing with Derek was going, or if they'd go out again, but she had a good feeling that they would. She liked the way that he wasn't afraid to hold her hand or make cute little gestures, like hugging her. Whatever they had right now, she liked it. Nothing had ever felt more right. She just hoped that Shane wouldn't wreck everything.

* * *

**So theres the chapter. Review, and more shall come :) There is some cute Dasey ahead :)**


	19. Games and Sleepovers

**Alright, so I am thinking there is only going to be a couple more chapters after this. There is still some drama ahead, but it will start winding down soon. I can't say how many chapters, but expect it to be maybe 5-6 more? I think. I recall someone asking if a review if Casey will get back home. Well, you'll see! Anyway, theres some definite Dasey in this chapter so ... enjoy :) And remember to review!**

**Disclaimer: I really thought that after this long, they would have taken pity and granted me rights to the show but ... oh well . I can still dream!**

**Chapter Nineteen: Games and Sleepovers**

"Got any twos?"

"You asked that last time, and it hasn't changed since then!"

"It could have!"

"How? I asked you for an eight and you gave me one. So I haven't picked up anything since then."

There was silence for a moment, in which Derek thought about what she had just said to him. Finally, he scowled.

"Shut up."

Derek and Casey had been sitting in Casey's room for the past hour and a half, playing cards, using a flashlight to see.. Derek had been trying to teach Casey how to play poker, but she wasn't catching on, so they had settled for alternating between 'Crazy Eights', 'Snap' and 'Go Fish'. It was still pouring rain outside and the thunder and lightning hadn't stopped.

"I give up on this stupid game." Derek mumbled, throwing his cards onto her bed and rolling onto his back, staring at the ceiling for a moment.

"Can someone say 'sore loser' ?" Casey mocked in a singsong voice, leaning down next to him, resting on one side with her head propped up against her elbow. She laughed as he looked up at her with mock-anger.

"I bet you cheated, anyway." he grumbled, turning his head away from her.

"How exactly does one cheat at a game of 'Go Fish', oh wise one?" Casey asked, wrapping a strand of his hair around her finger. "Enlighten me."

"You tell me." he said, turning to face her again, and laughing. "We wouldn't be having this argument if you had just gone along with good old Poker. There is nothing wrong with Poker."

"Ugh, you sound like a seventy year old man." Casey grumbled, rolling her eyes. "What time is it, anyway?"

"It's ten thirty." Derek said, checking his watch. "Ten thirty, and the power is still out. What time did it go anyway? Eight?"

"Around there." Casey said, yawning. "Which means we've been without heat now for two and a half hours. No wonder I'm cold."

"You're cold?" Derek asked, looking up at her. "Here, wear my jacket. I'm not cold, anyway."

He shrugged out of his blue hockey jacket, sliding it out from underneath him and offering it to Casey, who smiled and took it, slipping her arms in through and pulling the ends together at the front. She grinned at him.

"You know I could have just used one of my own sweaters." she reminded him. "This _is _my room."

"But you look really cute wearing my jacket." he said, smirking. "Besides, then you'd have to get up, and I like you just where you are."

"Which is coincidentally next to you." she noted, rolling her eyes. "Does that have anything to do with it?"

"Maybe." he said, shrugging. "What time is your Mom going to be home from your Aunt's?"

"I don't know." Casey said, biting her lip. "She was supposed to be home around a half an hour ago actually. Maybe I should call her ... "

"Uh, hello? Phone service is down, remember?"

"Uh hello, cellphone." Casey said, retrieving the device from her pocket and waving it in front of his face. Derek scowled.

"Why didn't I think of that earlier?" he asked, more to himself than to Casey. Casey pressed a finger to her lips, motioning for him to be quiet, and he did.

"Hi, Mom." he heard Casey say. "Mhmm. Oh me and Lizzie are fine. Yeah, actually, Derek is here. No, he drove over here. Playing cards. Watching a movie. Oh you're not? You can't? Are you sure? Yeah you're probably right. Yeah, I know, Mom. Mom! Okay. Thanks. Bye."

"What was that all about?" Derek asked Casey as she placed her cellphone on the endtable next to her bed. She turned back to him and sighed.

"My Mom can't make it home tonight. Apparantly the main road is closed off between my aunt's house and here." Casey said. "A power line fell, and there's some flooding."

"Wait ... the main road, that's the road that I take to get back to my house ..." Derek said, trailing off and glancing up at Casey. She nodded.

"I know."

"Shit!" Derek cursed, placing a hand over his face. "What the hell am I supposed to do, swim?"

"Of course not. Don't be stupid." Casey said, smacking his shoulder playfully. "My Mom said if you need to, stay here, in the guest room."

"She _trusts_ that?" Derek said, eyes wide. "I wouldn't have thought she'd trust me to stay here."

"What else is she supposed to do, Derek, let you spend the night outside or get stranded on the main road somewhere?" Casey asked, raising her eyebrows. "My mother's not that cruel. She's not crazy about the idea. She just has no other choice. She said 'no funny stuff'. And she told me to get you to call your Dad."

"Will do." Derek said, pulling his own cell out of his pocket and calling his Dad, filling him in on the situation. After hanging up, he turned back to Casey, smirking.

"So, what are we going to do, with no power for TV or anything?" Derek asked her, raising his eyebrows. "After all, it's really hard for two teenagers to find something to do in the dark."

"First of all, get your mind out of the gutter." she said to him, and he rolled his eyes. "Second of all ... there's not much we can do. We can talk. Or we could play a game. Maybe twenty questions or truth or dare."

"Twenty questions ... except make it ten." Derek said, yawning. "I ask five, and you ask five. I don't have the brainpower to think of ten questions."

"And what makes you think you have the brainpower for five?" Casey asked him, laughing at the look on his face. "Alright, ten it is. You start."

"Alright... umm... what was the worst nickname someone ever gave you?"

"Klutzilla." Casey said, secretly wanting to hit him for that. "Yours?"

''Dereka." Derek said, and Casey almost laughed, remembering the conversation that they'd had over dinner one night in her old life about Derek's former nickname.

"Who was your first crush?" Derek asked her.

"Ray Coombes." Casey said without thought. "Who was yours?"

"You're totally stealing all my questions." he grumbled, but sighed. "Melissa Ryan. Most akward high school moment to date?"

"The time that I fell down the stairs at school because y- I mean ... some jerk insulted me." Casey said, catching herself just in time. "Biggest lie you ever told?"

"Easy. The time I faked sick for a week to get out of going to this co-ed gym class thing we were having." Derek said, blushing. "We had to learn how to dance and ... oh stop laughing , it was grade five."

Casey was still laughing at the image of a younger Derek cowering in the corner of a school gym, eyeing a group of girls in fear. She wasn't used to Derek being intimidated by girls. Finally, he sighed impatiently.

"Can I ask my question now, or should I just wait until you're done laughing at my discomfort?" Derek asked, and she stopped, still grinning. "Thank you. God, you're so sadistic. Anyway, what was the most crazy experience you ever had?"

Casey smiled to herself. This one was definitely easy to answer, but she knew that she couldn't answer it honestly. He'd never buy it. She was living in her most crazy experience at that very moment, and Derek didn't even realize it.

"If I told you, you'd laugh at me." she said truthfully, not even laughing anymore. "You wouldn't believe me. No one would."

"Oh come on, Case, try me." he said, looking over at her with puppy dog eyes. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Please."

"Let's just say that it involves my whole world being turned upside down, and everything I knew disappearing." Casey said, hoping that he would accept this explanation. "My whole life changed."

Derek paused, studying her carefully for a moment, as though trying to figure out what she could possibly mean by that. She looked away, trying to think of a question to change the topic as quickly as possible and when she did, she rushed right into it.

"Alright, my turn." she said, and Derek snapped out of his trance. "Biggest heartbreak?"

"Honestly?" Derek asked, pausing. She nodded and he took a deep breath, before looking her right in the eye. "You."

"Me?" Casey asked, looking down at him curiously. "What did I do?"

"When you said you didn't like me." Derek said, as though it were obvious. "I honestly never thought it would hurt that much. We haven't known each other that long, after all, but ... it did. It hurt a lot. And I'm really not used to that."

Casey didn't know what to say to that, so she muttered for him to go onto his last question and looked away.

"What made you decide to go out with me?" Derek asked, reaching up and brushing a strand of hair away from her eyes. "Why did you give me that second chance?"

"I already told you this." Casey said. "I realized it would be worth a shot, since I did sort of like you."

'Sort of, huh?" Derek said with a smirk. Casey smacked him and he sighed. "Fine. Can I change my question? You already knew that one."

"Fine." Casey said, acting as though it was a big deal. She laughed, and he looked at her nervously.

"If I asked you to go out with me again ... what would you say?"

Casey laughed, leaning so that she was lying on her back again, and Derek pushed himself up onto one elbow, studying her curiously.

"Hey, what are you laughing at?" he asked, frowning. "There was nothing funny about that ques-"

He was cut off when Casey reached up, placing a hand behind his neck, and she pulled his face down to hers, crashing her lips against his. She felt him smirking as he responded to her kiss, probably pleased that she was willing to kiss him again. He tried to pull her closer to him, but was cut off when a clap of thunder sounded outside, causing them to break apart in shock. In the dim light that was coming from the flashlight that she had left on, pointed at the ceiling, Casey could see Derek was still grinning.

"So can I take that as a yes?" he asked, unnecessarily, and she laughed again.

"You tell me." she said.

He laughed along with her and leaned down, kissing her again. It only lasted a second, before they were forced to break apart. This time it was not because of the thunder, but because Lizzie burst into the room, running to Casey. Luckily it was mainly dark, giving Derek a moment to break away from Casey and sit up, acting as though nothing had happened. Casey sat up as well, rushing to wipe her mouth and try to fix her hair.

"What's wrong, Liz?" she asked, watching her frightened looking sister with concern. Then, she remembered. "It's the thunder, right?"

Casey couldn't believe that she had forgotten that Lizzie absolutely hated thunder and lightning storms. They had scared the life out of her since she was a little girl. Casey could only guess that the movie she had been watching was over, because the headphones had been temporarily drowning out the sounds outdoors.

Lizzie nodded, and Casey sighed.

"Alright, kiddo." she said, taking her sisters hand. "Come on, me and Derek will come out with you. The main road is blocked off so ... Mom can't get home and Derek is spending the night."

"Derek?" Lizzie said, turning to face him. "You're spending the night here?"

"Yep." Derek said, nodding. "So you don't like the thunder, huh?"

Lizzie shook her head.

"It's okay, really." Derek tried to assure her. "My little sister, Marti, has the same problem. Just do something else, take your mind off it."

"There's nothing else to do." Lizzie whined. "Theres barely anything to do with no power."

"Well the portable DVD players still got some battery left, right?" Casey asked, smiling. "Why don't you go pick out another movie and we'll watch it with you?"

Lizzie thought for a moment, before nodding.

"Alright, come on." she said, hauling Casey up by the hand. She bounded off ahead of Casey and Derek, her flashlight casting a beam of light in front of her, and Casey and Derek followed closely behind. Right before they went out the door, Derek grabbed her arm lightly and pulled her back, holding her up against the wall. His eyes searched hers for a moment.

"About that date..." he said slowly. She leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"We'll talk tomorrow." she said with a grin, before grabbing his hand and leading him out to the living room, where Lizzie was sitting cross legged on the floor, searching through a box of DVD's. Once she picked out one, the three of them lay on a blanket on the floor, with the DVD player set up a few feet in front of them so they could all see it. Casey lay in the middle with her head resting on the pillow in front of her, kept warm by Derek's jacket and the blankets that they had thrown over them. She felt Lizzie drop off to sleep halfway through the movie, her head resting on Casey's shoulder. Casey tried to concentrate on the movie, but she too, was falling asleep. Yawning, she shifted so that she didn't disturb Lizzie, but she was more comfortable. She knew that she should probably get up and go to her own bedroom, like she was supposed to, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She was way too tired. She glanced at Derek one more time, noticing that; he too, looked ready to fall asleep.

"Night, Derek." she said, resting her head against the pillow. The last thing she remembered was Derek's hand slip into her own, and a faint;

"Night, Case."

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed that chapter. As I said, a bit of Dasey in there. Also, I said above the story will probably start winding down soon. I have it all planned out, but it will take a couple more chapters to get there. There are already 2 chapters ahead of this done and I think I may need 2 or 3 after that. I have another fic planned for after this one. :) But it won't be until this one is all done, which should be pretty soon. Anyway, as usual, review and more shall follow!**


	20. Mornings, Fights and Questions

**Alright folks. The official countdown is on. I have this story completed on my computer, with the exception of a bit of tweaking on the final chapter. There will be 24 chapters in the end, so my estimate last time was so awesome :) So keep on reading, keep on reviewing, and I'll keep on posting! I know, two updates in one day isn't like me but ... I decided to be nice. I got a lot accomplished today :) By the way, there is a bit more language than usual in this chapter, and it is used a bit more in the next few chapters. Just to let you know.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter Twenty: Mornings, Fights and Questions**

Casey woke up the next morning to the sound of the radio playing faintly in the kitchen. Her first thought was that the power must be back. Her second thought was that Derek was still holding her hand. She stirred and stretched, her eyes still closed.

"Someone finally decided to join the land of the living."

She opened up her eyes to see Derek smiling down at her, his hair all messed up with bedhead. The sight seemed so natural to her - as she had spent a year living in the same house as him, and that involved seeing him in the mornings. However, this was the first morning of her new life that Derek had been there when she woke up.

Casey looked over her shoulder to see if her sister was still asleep, but Lizzie wasn't even there.

"Where did Liz go?" Casey asked Derek, sitting up and rubbing her eyes, yawning.

"She's in the kitchen." Derek shrugged. "She was hungry, so I told her to go ahead and eat. Hope that's alright with you. She found toast and cereal."

"Good enough." Casey shrugged, relieved that she didn't have to get up right away and make her sister breakfast. "What time is it? How long have you been awake?"

"It's eleven." Derek informed her, glancing at his watch. "And I've only been up for twenty minutes."

A half an hour later, Casey was dressed and had her hair done the best she could get it, seeing as she couldn't really get a shower with Derek there. She was just getting her toast out of the toaster when there was a knock on the door. Her stomach growled with hunger, and she pressed her forehead against the fridge angrily. She was going to ask Derek to get it, but he was in the bathroom washing up, and Lizzie had gotten dressed and went downstairs, to one of her friend's apartments. Casey made her way to the door, glad that she had already cleaned up .

When she opened the door, she rolled her eyes and groaned in frustration.

"It's like ... a never ending thing with you isn't it?" she asked Shane, who was standing in front of her. "Can't you just accept the fact that I don't want anything to do with you?"

"We didn't get to finish talking yesterday." he said, and she could tell he was angry. "So I thought I'd talk to you somewhere where you can't get one of Venturi's little friends after me."

"He didn't go after you." Casey said truthfully as Shane stepped into the apartment and closed the door behind him. "He told you off. And you deserved it."

"You're being a really big bitch, you know that, right?" Shane asked, glaring at her.

At that moment, Derek appeared at Casey's side, arms folded across his chest, eyes like daggers.

"You want to say that again and see what happens?" he asked angrily.

Shane's eyes widened and he looked back and forth from Derek to Casey.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Shane asked, his eyes fixed on Derek even though he was speaking to Casey. Neither of them answered. He shook his head angrily. "God, Venturi, how is it that you manage to ruin every conversation I try and have with Casey, whether you are there or not?"

"I don't know." Derek said with a shrug. "But I suggest you get out of here right now."

"Who's going to make me?" Shane asked, stepping towards Derek. "Surely not you."

"Shane, don't start anything." Casey warned him. "Please."

"You can just shut the hell up and stay out of it." Shane snapped, glaring at her. Casey moved backwards, and Derek took a step towards Shane, making sure Casey was behind him, out of Shane's reach.

"Nothing gives you the right to talk to her like that." Derek told him. "Say whatever the hell you want to me, but I don't want you saying anything to her."

"Who do you think you are?" Shane snarled. "You come into Casey's life and try to push me out of it. I've known Casey for almost a year now and you've known her ... what? Maybe two weeks, tops? Not even? You've got no right to get involved in mine and Casey's business."

"I have every right in the world to get involved in it, if it involves you pushing Casey around and saying shit to her." Derek said.

"He's treated me better in a week and a half than you have in the whole year I've known you." Casey said, finally finding her voice. She hadn't even been there the full year, to witness this, but by what everyone else had told her, she knew this was the truth. She took a step forward, so that she was standing next to Derek.

"I want you to leave." she said with confidence. "It's my house, and I'm saying get out now."

'Fine." Shane said, nodding. "I'll leave. But you just watch how quickly you run back to me when Venturi here breaks your heart. Just like he does with every other girl."

"Derek's not like that." Casey said confidently, and Derek glanced at her, a grateful look on his face, as though he hadn't fully believed that she knew he was different than Shane. Sure she'd told him, but even Casey knew that he hadn't fully believed her.

"You just watch." Shane said with a cold smile on his face. "Sure, he says he likes you now. He probably tells you that you're different from other girls. But you're not Case. You're no different than any other girl. Not to him anyways. Give it a week and he'll move onto the next thing in a skirt. And where will that leave you? Sure, me and you have had our problems, but at least we're consistent. At least we last."

"And just how far would you go to keep that consistency, Shane?" Derek asked bitterly. "Because you're digging yourself in deep here."

"I'll go as far as it takes to make sure you don't get Casey in the end." Shane snarled. "But I don't have to worry about it. With your reputation, you'll have a new girl within the next week, and I'll have Casey. Natural order will be restored."

"We'll see about that." Derek said with a shrug, not willing to fight anymore. "Now I'll say this one more time. Leave.''

Shane turned to go, but Derek grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and pulled him back into the room.

"One more thing, Shane." he said threateningly. "If I hear that you have laid a hand on Casey again, there will be hell to pay. I'll fucking kill you, am I clear?"

"As crystal." Shane said bitterly, before turning and walking out the door, hands still curled into fists. Derek closed the door behind him and leaned up against it, looking ready to kill. Casey was silent for a moment, unsure of what to say to him. She was trying not to take any meaning out of Shanes words, because she knew that he was, for the most part, a bullshitter. But he seemed to have Derek's character down pretty well. Derek had told her she was different. If Shane knew that he had said that, did that mean that Derek told it to other girls all the time, or that he just took a lucky guess? Casey knew she was being ridiculous. How could she even consider believing Shane over Derek?

Derek, however, had seen the look in her eyes that had been there since Shane said that, and he knew immediately what was on her mind.

"You don't believe him, do you, Case?" he asked nervously, watching her carefully. She looked up at him, biting her lip, and his expression turned cold. "You _do_ believe him, don't you?"

"I never said that."

"You didn't have to." Derek said, moving away from the door and storming off down the hall towards her room. She followed closely behind him, trying to talk some sense into him.

"Derek, I don't believe him alright?" she cried as he flew into her room. "I really don't. I believe you."

"Bullshit." Derek growled as he crossed the room and grabbed his jacket off of the back of her computer chair, where she had laid it while getting changed. "I really thought you trusted me, Casey. I thought I told you that I'm nothing like him? And you said you knew that. So what was that, bull?"

"Derek, you need to calm down." Casey tried to tell him, grabbing his sleeve, but he shrugged her off and headed towards the front door angrily.

"Bye, Casey." he said angrily, opening up the front door to leave, but Casey darted in front of him, flattening herself up against the door to prevent him from leaving. It closed again, and he looked at her, hurt clear in his eyes.

"What do you want?" he asked her bitterly, looking as though he'd rather be anywhere but where he was.

"I want you to know that I _do_ trust you." she said, her eyes darting back and forth between each of his quickly. "I'll admit that, for a second, I gave what Shane said a bit of thought-"

Derek moved to grab the door handle again, but she swatted his hand away.

"But I realized I was being stupid." she finished, and his hand dropped to his side again. "I promise you that I know you're nothing like him. He's selfish and violent and demanding and you're ... not."

''What am I then?" Derek asked, still half angry, but there was an almost amused smile playing on his lips. Casey thought for a moment.

"You're a sweet, charming, caring, vaguely arrogant yet funny guy..." she trailed off as she saw Derek smirking. "-who is enjoying every last second of this." she finished, rolling her eyes.

"That I am." he said, the smirk never leaving his face. "I'll see you later."

"I thought I told you that I believe you!" she cried, panicking once again. "Why are you still mad at me?"

"Relax Case, I'm not mad at you." he said, shrugging into his jacket quickly. "I've got to get going though. I told my Dad I'd try to be home for one. And I'm willing to bet that there is a lot of traffic, with the roads being blocked off all night. So I'd better head out now."

"Alright." Casey said, disappointed. "Call me later?"

''Well obviously." Derek said, with a grin. "We do have a date to discuss, don't we?"

Casey didn't answer, but she didn't have to. Derek knew all he needed to know by the smile that was on her face.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"...so then my Dad grounded Edwin." Derek finished. "He had no clue that it was me that knocked over the cabinet in the first place. And Edwin was too scared to tell him the truth."

"Well you can be a pretty threatening big brother, can't you?" Casey asked, laughing as she took another sip of her coffee. "Except with Marti. I've seen you with Marti. You're amazing with her."

"Yeah ... she's a pretty special kid." Derek said, smiling fondly. "So is Edwin, but ... we have a different sort of bond. We care about each other; we just don't show it all the time."

Casey could only smile at the way he talked about his brother and sister. It was two days after the thunder and lightning storm. She had officially been in this alternate universe for two weeks now, and she had doubts on whether or not she would ever make it back. A part of her was glad. She was getting used to this life. Hanging around with Derek and Terra was great, and not living in such a crowded house where it was impossible to find alone time was pretty cool too.

But another part of her desperately wanted to go home. She didn't see her mother as much as she would have liked in her new life. She was always gone out, which meant Casey had to babysit a lot. She missed having Marti and Edwin around, and even George. She didn't have to miss Derek because she saw him every day now anyway. But she did miss her big family. As nice as it was to wake up and not have to worry about Derek hogging the shower, or Edwin analyzing every word she said for his research, or Marti stealing her makeup, she half wanted to be able to wake up and argue with Derek over the bathroom, threaten to tell on Edwin for spying, and put up with Martis cute, apoligetic face. She even missed Georges childlike way of parenting.

But nonetheless, she couldn't do anything about her current situation. It didn't matter if she wanted to be here or not, because she was. And at that moment, she was on her second date with Derek. They had kept it a bit simpler this time. They had seen a movie and now they were out for coffee. It was typical, but Casey didn't mind. She already liked Derek, and it didn't matter to her where they went or what they did, as long as she got to spend some more time with him. She couldn't believe how much her feelings for him had changed in just two weeks.

"Casey, there is something I've been meaning to ask you." Derek said, entwining his fingers with hers carefully. "I was going to ask you the other night but ... I decided against it. I thought it would be better to wait. But I need to get this out there."

"Derek, what is it?" she asked, smiling at him. "Come on, you can tell me anything."

"Alright, well, um ... I know that we've only been on two dates and everything, but, uh ... I really _really_ like you." he said, examining their joined hands, his eyes darting up to meet hers every few seconds "And I really like spending time with you, and, well ... uhh ... Casey ... will you be my girlfriend?"

He completely avoided eye contact now. His head was bowed down, and she could feel his hand shaking within hers. She felt her heart beating at a furious pace. She really hadn't expected him to ask that. Not tonight, anyway. It was completely out of the blue, but she knew he was expecting an answer now.

She looked over at him, and very slowly, he raised his gaze so that he was looking directly into her eyes. His hand was shaking nervously, and he sat perfectly still as he waited for the answer that could make or break his relationship with Casey. Taking a deep breath, she prepared to give it to him.

* * *

**Cliffhanger. Dun Dun Dun. Anyway, as I said, I have the rest of the story completed, so the more you update, the quicker I post, lol! There are four more chapters, and they are full of drama, eep! Anyway, review please!**


	21. Answers and Earth Shattering News

**This is my third new chapter in two days, so be nice and review, and I may just post again tonight lol! Some of you might hate me at the end of this chapter but either way, read and review my friends, read and review. Sorry for the cliffhanger last chapter but I didn't leave you hanging for long:) **

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing**

**Chapter Twenty-One: Answers and Earth Shattering News**

Derek sat there nervously, awaiting a response of some sorts. Finally, Casey laughed. He looked up at her, not expecting this reaction at all. He cast her a hurt look.

"Why is it that you laugh at the questions that _aren't _funny?" he asked, his eyes narrowed. "You have a habit of doing that. Why can't you just answer the question? It's not funny."

"It's funny that you even had to ask that." she said, smiling. "You should already know the answer but ... of course I will, Derek."

"You ... you will?" Derek stammered, his eyes darting back and forth between each of hers nervously. "Are you serious?"

"Is there a reason I should say no?" she asked teasingly, and he shook his head quickly.

"No, not at all!" he said, unable to wipe the stupid grin off of his face. "It's just ... I thought you'd say no for sure."

"Why would I say no?" she asked, wondering where he would get that idea. "You know I like you."

"Yeah but ... we haven't known each other for all that long now and ... well I just thought you'd say no to me right away but I figured I'd never know unless I tried." he said, ranting now, sounding half in shock, half ecstatic. He looked up at her again.

''So is it safe to call you my girlfriend?" he asked, already knowing the answer. ''You're definitly saying yes?"

''And you called me difficult?" she asked, laughing. "Why can't you just accept my answer? Yes, I'm your girlfriend, Derek."

For the rest of their date, Derek was in shock. They went for a walk in the park after they had their coffee, and everytime Casey so much as opened her mouth to speak, he'd get nervous, as though he thought she was going to change her mind and call it off at any second. But she never and after they were halfway through their walk, Derek started to relax and adjust to the fact that he could kiss her or hold her hand and it would be okay. He'd been doing those things all along, but Casey had noticed he had been hesitant about it before, almost as though he expected her to yell at him for it. So as they sat on a bench by the edge of the trail they had been walking on, he was almost nervous to lean over and kiss her. She had seen him attempt this once, leaning closer to her, but then change his mind and settle back down again. She had almost laughed at this, and at his second attempt, she grinned and turned to him.

"You can kiss me, you know." she informed him, laughing. "I don't bite."

Derek laughed nervously along with her.

"I know that." he said sheepishly. "It's just ... well ... I'm not really used to having a girlfriend. I date a lot of girls, but I have only had a few girlfriends. So you're going to have to be patient with me. I'm still new at it. And I really like you, so ... I don't want to mess this up."

"You're not messing anything up, Derek, don't worry about it." she assured him. "And I can be patient. Just as long as all those dates you talk about are history. You've got to learn how to be a one girlfriend kind of guy. That's all I really ask of you."

"I can do that. Trust me, I'm not going anywhere, I promise." Derek said, squeezing her hand gently. Casey smiled. She knew he could manage it. Sure, he'd almost cheated on Kendra in their old life, but even then, he seemed to realize in the end that it was wrong. And there was so much emotion and honesty in his voice when he said he would be faithful that she had to believe him.

With nothing else left to discuss, Derek leaned over and kissed her. This kiss was unlike the few others they had shared. Before, the kisses had been urgent, almost as though they were both scared that it would be the last time they got to do this, or that the other would break apart at any second. But this time, they took it slow, knowing full well that they could kiss each other whenever they wanted now, that there was no need to rush. Casey almost forgot where she was, she was so caught up in kissing Derek, until she felt Derek pull away. When she opened her eyes, he was smiling at her. All she could do was smile back .

- - - - - - - - - -

Casey didn't think that she had ever been happier. She had just gotten home from her date with Derek, finally managing to wrench herself away from him after almost fifteen minutes of 'alone time' outside the door of her apartment. Saying hello to her mother and Lizzie on her way, she walked into her room, tossing her jacket down on the back of her computer chair and relaxing into it.

What a day. Everything was falling so perfectly into place. She hadn't heard from Shane in three days, she had just had one of the most amazing nights of her life, and Derek was now officially her boyfriend. She didn't think that anything could be better than this. Maybe this whole wish thing had been a good thing after all. Sure , she had to adjust to a lot of things, and some she still wasn't completely used to , but it was worth it. She knew that she could adjust to it all, in time. Besides, the thing that she missed the most, the Venturis, didn't have to disappear entirely. She could still see them now, especially since she was Derek's girlfriend. She'd have plenty of time to spend with Marti and Edwin, and even George.

She heard the phone ring, but ignored it, letting Lizzie pick it up. She listened to try and figure out who was calling, and a moment later, Lizzie called out that the phone was for her. Casey crossed the room and picked up her cordless, flopping down onto her bed with it.

"Hello?" she said, figuring it would have to be Terra, as Derek had just dropped her off. Her heart froze when she heard Shanes voice on the other end. Her stomach lurched in disappointment. She'd thought that he'd finally backed off for good. But nonetheless, here he was, calling her. She vowed to herself not to let him interefere with her good mood.

"Is Venturi with you?" Shane asked coldly. "Or any of his friends? Or can I finally have like, two seconds to talk to you without them butting in?"

''Nobody's here with me." she said honestly. "But that doesn't mean I want to talk to you."

"Well, I need to talk to you." he said angrly. "Look, Case, I gave you some space. I figured that this whole thing with Venturi was a phase, that you'd come to your senses and realize what an asshole he really is. But it's becoming clear now that you're not giving up on him."

"Point one, Derek's not an asshole, thank you very much." Casey snapped, sick of Shanes bullshit. "That would be you, Shane Wilder. Number two, you are absolutely right. I am not giving up on Derek. So it's useless of you to keep trying to turn me against him."

"I did that for your own benefit, Case, not mine." Shane said, a bold faced lie if Casey ever heard one. "But whatever compassion I had for you is gone. After what my friend saw-"

"Oh yeah?" Casey said, not at all phased by his words. "And what did your friend see?"

"Well apparantly, he was at the park tonight with his girlfriend, and he happened to see you and Venturi kissing."

"So?"

"So I told Venturi to watch his back, and I told you to stop hanging out with him." Shane said angrily. "Clearly, the two of you do not know how to listen, so I'm giving up on getting you back now. All I can say is watch your back, Case."

"Watch my back, huh?" Casey said, rolling her eyes. "What are you going to do, Shane? Beat me up?"

''As I said, watch your back. And that goes double for that boyfriend of yours." Shane said. "I'm sick of everyone thinking he's so much better than me when he's not. He's a fake, Case; he plays girls. He's no better than I am. And I intend on making sure he doesn't take anything else from me again. As for you ... be on the watch."

Before Casey could respond, Shane had hung up the phone, leaving a dumbfounded Casey to worry. Frantically, she picked up the phone and dialed Derek's cellphone, praying he would pick it up even though he was driving. It rang a couple of times, and just when Casey started to get doubtful, he picked up.

"Derek!" she said frantically, relieved.

"Hey, Case, what's-"

"Derek, I need you to be careful, alright?" Casey said, standing up and pacing her room nervously. "I want you to watch out for Shane."

"Shane?" Derek repeated, sounding confused. "What happened? Casey, what's wrong, what are you talking about?"

In a rush, Casey explained to Derek everything that Shane had said to her on the phone only moments before, making sure to try and repeat what he had said word for word, just so Derek knew every detail. When she finished, Derek was silent for a moment, apparantly thinking. Finally, Casey decided to break the silence.

''Derek?"

"He threatened you?" Derek asked, tone harsh and angry.

"Yes, and he threatened you, too." Casey said, trying to make sure he understood just how serious her ex-boyfriend was about coming after the two of them. "So I need you to be careful, alright?"

"I can't believe he fucking threatened you." Derek said, apparantly not having heard a word she had just said to him. "Casey I don't want you to leave your house tonight, alright?"

"I wasn't planning on it." she said slowly, unsure of why he sounded so rushed. "Are you home yet?"

''I've got to go." he said quickly. "I'll call you later on. Just promise me you aren't going to go anywhere tonight."

"But-"

"Promise me, Casey." he demanded, not harshly, but urgently. "Promise me you aren't going to go anywhere tonight. I don't want to give him a chance to hurt you."

"But, I-"

"God dammit, Casey, just promise me!" Derek cried, frustrated. Something in Derek's voice told her how serious he was being and she gulped nervously.

"Alright, I promise." she said. "But where are you going?"

"It doesn't matter." Derek said quickly. "I'll call you later."

"Derek please just tell me where-"

"Bye, Casey."

With that, he hung up. Casey considered calling him back and begging him to let her know what he was planning on doing, but she decided against it. She didn't want to make him mad. Besides, Derek wouldn't do anything stupid. Even if he did find Shane, he had enough sense to leave if things got messy, didn't he?

Sadly, she couldn't answer that question with confidence. Half of her rather thought that Derek would get into a fight with Shane, even if Shane wasn't the one to start it. But she'd promised that she wouldn't go anywhere, so she lay back on her bed, trying to convince herself that Derek was a tough guy, he could stick up for himself. Sam had told her that and so had Derek. She just had to have faith in them. So she flicked on her TV and settled down, trying to focus on whatever show she was watching, while at the same time stealing glances at the phone every two minutes, waiting for it to ring. Derek had said he'd call her later, and he would.

After an hour and a half without hearing from Derek, she started to get a little more than worried. Maybe she _should_ call him. After all, it had been an awful long time. He should be home by now. She had just gotten up off of her bed to pick up the phone and call Derek when it rang. She snatched it up without even looking at the caller ID.

"Derek?" she said quickly, praying it would be him.

"It's Sam." came the voice on the other end. "Look, Casey, there's something I've got to tell you."

Casey felt her heart drop and she knew what Sam was going to say before he even said it.

"Derek's in the hospital."

Casey felt everything spin in a mixture of colors and sounds, none of which she could distinguish from the rest. They all blended into one as she tried to focus on what Sam was saying, and staying upright at the same time.

"W-What?" Casey stammered. "No. You're lying to me. Derek's fine. He's perfectly fine. He...he..."

"He went after Shane." Sam said, and Casey could tell Sam was close to crying. Sam crying? She hadn't even seen Sam cry when she had dated him. Whatever had happened must have been pretty big. She didn't want to hear what came next, but there was no preventing it. Sam took a deep breath before speaking, his voice strained, almost as if he was scared to be telling her this.

"All I can say is that Shane played a lot dirtier than we thought he could, Casey." Sam said, voice shaking. "He knifed him."

* * *

**Sorry for the cliffhangers I've been sticking you all with lately. It seemed like the best way to end it. Anyway, 3 more chapters after this one, so keep on reviewing ! They make me post quicker lol!**


	22. Hospital Waits and News

**Alright I didn't make you wait too long for the update so be thankful :) As you may have noticed I have been updating a lot lately and, as I said, it's because I have the story finished. I just wait for lots of reviews and then post :) So keep reviewing, and there are two more chapters to follow this one! I'd love to hear your thoughts. :) **

**Disclaimer: Casey's wish came true, why can't mine? But sadly, I still own nothing.**

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Hospital Waits and News**

Casey got to the hopsital as fast as she could. Her mother dropped her off there. She would have stayed, except she didn't think that a hospital was the best place for Lizzie to be under the present circumstances. Casey privately agreed, and told her mother she would be fine; Sam would be there, and Terra, who had called as Casey was on her way out the door, had said she'd get to the hospital as quick as she could, for moral support.

She rushed into the emergency room, glancing around for a sign of anyone she knew, only to find there were many of them. She could only guess that Marti had been left with neighbours, because George and Edwin were sitting down on one side of the room, next to Kendra, who was holding Max's hand tightly. Much to her surprisre, the sight didn't bother Casey in the slightest. Emily was there with Sheldon, and the two of them were talking to Sam. The second he spotted Casey, he crossed the room and wrapped his arms around her, both of them finding comfort in each other. As she let Sam hold her, she felt tears finally escape from her eyes. She had been willing herself not to cry the whole time, because crying would make everything seem more real, but she couldn't hold it in anymore.

"It's okay, Case." Sam was saying, trying to get her to calm down. "It's okay. Please stop crying."

"This is all my fault." Casey got out, the words muffled into Sams shirt. "I shouldn't have told him what Shane said. If I hadn't of told him, he wouldn't have wanted to protect me, and he never would of gone after him."

"You can't think like that, Casey." Sam tried to tell her, shaking his head as she pulled back, her face tear stained. "Derek wouldn't blame you, and he wouldn't want you to blame yourself, either. Besides, it was Shane that played dirty. I was there, Casey. I saw it."

"You ... you saw it?" Casey asked, choking over her own words. "What happened?"

"Derek called me and said he was going after Shane." Sam explained, leading her over to sit in an area of the room that wasn't so crowded. "He told me that Shane had threatened you ... and I told him I wanted to go with him. He argued with me, but I finally convinced him to let me go. So he picked me up and we headed over to the skate park, because Shane is usually there with his friends. Anyway, Derek went crazy and started yelling at Shane. I don't think Shane expected Derek to know about it that quick, because he looked pretty surprised."

Sam trailed off for a moment, as though finding the memories hard to repeat, which they probably were.

"Anyway, Shane started talking shit, saying that he was going to beat up Derek and then go after you, and that's when Derek lost it. He punched Shane in the face. Shane tried to fight back but he didn't stand a chance against Derek." Sam explained, shaking his head. "I've never seen Derek that pissed. He was on top of him and he just kept hitting him over and over again and yelling at him. Anyway, I think Shane realized that he couldn't fight Derek off on strength alone, and the next thing we know, Derek was on the ground and Shane was standing up again. Nobody really realized what happened at first. They thought that Derek had just let his grip slip for a second and Shane had gotten up ... and then we saw the blood."

Casey closed her eyes, not wanting to hear the rest, but knowing she had to.

"Derek started like ... convulsing or something, and I knelt down next to him and tried to ask him what had happened. He pointed at Shane and I looked up at him and ..." Sam trailed off for a moment, taking in a sharp breath. "And then I saw the knife he had in his hand. I don't think he realized what he was doing, because he was just staring at Derek, almost as though he couldn't believe he'd actually done it. And then he dropped the knife and ran off. He fought dirty, Case. He fought real dirty. It wasn't even about you anymore when he stabbed him. He just didn't want to get his ass kicked in front of all his friends."

Casey had her head in her hands now, and she was crying uncontrollably, unable to keep calm. She knew that everyone was telling her not to feel guilty, but she did. She regretted calling Derek and telling him what Shane had said. She had done it to protect him, and it had landed him in the hospital. She looked up at Sam, prepared to ask the question that she was scared to know the answer to.

"Sam ... be honest with me." she said, her voice shaking. "Is he going to be okay?"

Sam remained silent, staring at his hands and biting his lip.

"Sam, please answer me." Casey said, trying to get him to meet her gaze. "How bad is it? Is he ... is he going to make it?"

Sam finally looked up at her, his eyes glistening, with what Casey thought could only be tears. She felt her heart clench as he shook his head and said;

"I can't answer that."

"I think you just did." she said, standing up and storming off across the room and settling herself down on the windowsill. She pressed her forehead up against the cold glass. Everything had been perfect. She had finally accepted her feelings for Derek, and he had felt the same way. They had just started going out officially, and now this. He had to make it. His words from earlier ran through Casey's mind over and over .

_'I'm not going anywhere, I promise.' _

Casey closed her eyes, praying that when she opened them again this would all be a dream, and Derek would be alright. He had spoken those words to her only a few short hours ago. He'd promised he wouldn't leave her. He wouldn't leave her. He was going to get out of that hospital and they would be together and everything would be perfect.

That's when it hit her. Maybe nobody's life was perfect. She had wished for her mother to have never married George because she had thought it would make her life perfect. She had gotten it, but was this really any better? Having Derek in the hospital, and everyone around him miserable? Maybe life would never be perfect no matter how many changes you made to it.

At that moment, she saw the doctor enter the room and motion for George to come over to him. George told Edwin he would be right back and wandered over to where the doctor was, wiping a tear away from his eyes. Casey was close enough that she could hear what was going on when she strained her hearing.

"So tell me how my son is." George said, trying to put on a brave front, but it wasn't working. He was shaking , and Casey had never seen him this nervous.

She knew what was coming from the look on the doctors face; by the way his eyes were set on George with a determination only someone bearing grave news could bring. Nonetheless, when the doctor said the words that she knew were coming, she still wasn't prepared for them.

"I'm sorry, Mr.Venturi." the doctor said, shaking his head. "We did everything we could."

Casey's heart skipped a beat as she stared at the doctor, unable to believe what he had just said. When George didn't reply, the doctor said the final two words that would confirm the worst.

"He's gone."

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**So you might all hate me right now. I would probably hate me too so I can't blame you! But review anyway! The two final chapters are finished, and ready to be posted upon reviews lol! **


	23. Running From Your Problems

**I was going to hold off on this one until tomorrow but I decided against it. It's done, and I got a lot of reviews on the last chapter, so I am just going to go ahead and post it. To those of you who pointed out some grammatical mistakes in the last chapter, thank you :) I don't mind constructive criticism at all; it helps improve my writing and I'd be pleased to hear it. Anyway, continue reviewing. This is the second last chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Running From Your Problems**

Casey wasn't thinking logically. She could hear someone behind her start crying, although it could have been more than one person. Hell, it could have been her. She wasn't thinking clearly enough to register her own actions anymore. She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. Her brain had stopped processing what was happening around her, and all she could focus on was what the doctor had just said.

_'He's gone'_

The words echoed through her head painfully, a reminder of everything she had lost, and everything she had risked. She didn't care what anyone else thought. This was all her fault. If not for calling Derek, then for wishing to change everything in the first place. If she had just stayed in her old life with Derek as her annoying stepbrother, he would still be alive.

Casey had no clue what she was supposed to do now, or where she was supposed to go. All she knew was that she felt disgusted with herself for even being there when she had caused it in the first place. So she did the only thing she could think of to do; the only thing that made sense. She ran. She ran faster than she could ever remember running in her entire life. She had no clue where she was going; she just let instinct take over and lead her as far away as she could get from that damn hospital, and from the pain. Snippets of memory kept flashing through her mind. Some of them from this life, some of them from the old one, running in no particular order.

_'We did everything we could.'_

If she hadn't of wanted Derek out of her life so bad, he would have been fine. They never would have known Shane, and they never would have gotten into this whole mess in the first place. She reminded herself that they probably wouldn't have gone out either, but having Derek alive as her annoying stepbrother was way better than having him as a dead boyfriend. She tried to convince herself that she would always have the memories ... but that didn't ease her pain at all.

_"Seriously, Derek." she said, shaking her head blankly. "Sometimes I just wish..."_

_"Wish what?" he urged. _

_"Sometimes I wish I'd never met you. Sometimes I wish my Mom never met your Dad at all." _

She collapsed onto a bench in the park, unable to hold herself up anymore. She was exhausted from running so much. She couldn't even believe she had gotten this far in less than half an hour. She hadn't really been paying attention to where she had been going. She guessed her lack of attention was what made her oblivious to the fact that Terra had been following behind her for ages, calling her name.

"Casey!''

Casey turned to see her friend jogging towards her , red faced and clearly out of breath . Terra stopped in front of the bench with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Casey turned away, pulling her knees up onto the bench and hugging them against her chest, her chin resting on her knee. Finally, Terra could breathe enough to talk to Casey.

"Case, I've been ... I've been chasing after you for like, twelve blocks." Terra explained. "I was on my way to the hospital and I ... I saw you. What's going on? Why are you running? How's Derek?"

"I had to run, Terra." Casey said, looking up at her friend. "Derek ... Derek ... he's ..."

She couldn't bring herself to say it. Saying it would make it so ... official. But Terra seemed to gather what had happened by Casey's inability to speak. Her face softened in realization, and she shook her head.

"Oh, Case." she said, collapsing on the bench next to Casey and wrapping her arms around her friend in a comforting hug. "Oh, Casey, I'm so sorry."

Casey thought she would have been cried out by now, but yet more tears escaped from her eyes. She rather thought that she must have an endless supply, because she had been crying since she'd saw Sam at the hospital. She hugged Terra back, unable to believe that all of this was happening to her.

"He asked me out, Terra." she sobbed. "Right before this happened. He asked me to be his girlfriend."

"Well what did you say?" Terra asked, pulling back and studying Casey, already knowing the answer. "You said yes, didn't you?"

Casey nodded, wiping away her tears.

"Of course I did." she said. "And then Shane called and ... I never should have told Derek what Shane said."

"Nobody knew that Shane was capable of something like that, Casey." Terra tried to tell her. "I mean, we all knew that he was violent but ... I never would have thought he had it in him to kill."

"I don't think he meant to." Casey admitted. "I think he just ... panicked."

''Casey, are you actually defending-"

"No!" Casey yelled, causing a passing couple to look her way. She lowered her voice before she continued. "I'm not defending what he did! Not at all! I'm just saying that... from what Sam said ... it sounded like he didn't really realize what he'd done until he'd done it, you know?"

"My Mom heard that they've already taken him in." Terra said, smiling sadly. "He's a repeat offender. He's got a criminal record already. He's never done anything like this before but ... a whole bunch of smaller things put together isn't going to make for a real great criminal record when he steps into a courtroom."

"I hope that bastard gets what's coming to him." Casey muttered angrily. "I'd kill him if I could."

Terra nodded, unable to think of anything else to say. As Casey was sitting there, she realized something.

"Oh god." she said, covering her face with her hands. "This is where I was sitting with Derek tonight, on this bench. This is where he promised me that he wasn't going anywhere."

Terra put an arm around Casey's shoulders in an attempt to comfort her, but it did no good. Casey wasn't really paying any attention to her friend anymore. She had realized something else. Not only was this the bench that she had been sitting on with Derek only a few hours before, it was also the bench that she had made the wish on in the first place.

Thats when it hit her. She had made the first wish on this very bench and it had worked. Maybe it could work again, if she tried hard enough. She had her doubts, but at this point she was willing to try just about anything to get Derek back. She closed her eyes and concentrated very hard.

_'I wish I hadn't made the first wish.' _she thought desperately. _'I wish I had my old life back. I wish Mom had married George right from the beginning. I wish Derek was alive again. I wish everything would go back to the way it was before I made that wish.' _

Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and looked around, praying that it had worked. But when she turned to her left, Terra was still there, trying to comfort her. It hadn't worked. Why hadn't it worked? She thought hard, trying to remember every little detail of the first wish. She'd been sitting on this very bench. It had been night , like it was now. She had been talking to Derek, although there wasn't much she could do about that in this situation. She had said that out loud. Maybe she had to say it out loud again. And for that, she needed to be alone. She needed Terra to be gone. Sighing, she turned to her friend.

"Terra ... thanks for all of your help, but I think I need some time alone, alright?" Terra opened her mouth to protest but Casey cut her off. "Please, I'll be okay. I need this."

Terra paused for a moment, before nodding and reluctantly standing up. She gave Casey one last hug.

"I'll call you later." Terra said, walking off slowly. Casey thought hard. If her wish did work, this would most likely be the last time she would see Terra. And when she thought about it, Terra had done a lot for her. She'd helped her face her feelings for Derek, she'd been an overall great friend, and she had supported Casey entirely in everything she'd done.

"Hey, Terra?" Casey called out, causing the other girl to turn around and look at Casey questioningly. Casey mustered up a smile. "Thank you. For everything."

Terra nodded, not questioning what Casey meant, and walked off. Casey watched her go, wondering if that was the last time she would see Terra. She knew that she couldn't dwell on that right now though. Closing her eyes, she concentrated as hard as she could on Derek, and how much she cared about him, and how much she wanted - no needed - him back. Trying not to look insane, she whispered the words under her breath, her eyes shut tight and her hands clenched into fists in anticipation.

_'I wish I had Derek back.' _she thought, shaking with desperation. _'I wish I never made the first wish. I wish I had my old life. I wish I still had Derek.' _

Casey kept her eyes closed for a moment, half afraid to open them. She was scared that when she opened her eyes, she would still be where she was all along, and her last resort would be gone. She wasn't even sure how to tell the difference, but she knew she had to open her eyes eventually. And now was as good a time as any. Slowly, she opened them. At first, she couldn't tell whether the wish had worked or not. She was still on the same bench, in the same park. It was still dark out, and there was no one around. Her heart was beating wildly as she realized that the situation didn't seem to have changed any within the past five minutes.

"Dammit." she muttered under her breath, bowing her head down. She had been stupid to think that the wish would work a second time. It was almost impossible to tell the difference, as there was no determining factor around her to help her distinguish one life from another. But she had a feeling that the wish hadn't worked. Which meant Derek really was dead. Derek was gone. She was never going to see him again. She was a moment away from crying when a voice spoke up behind her, snapping her back to attention.

"Casey?"

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**One more chapter left folks. Review. :) **


	24. Never Again

**Last chapter. If you've been reviewing all along, please do so one more time! And if you haven't been , now would be an excellent time to leave one! Anyway, here is the final chapter. Thank you for reading. **

**Disclaimer: Last chapter, and I never did get to own anything but the plot. What a waste of time!**

**Chapter Twenty-Four: Never Again**

Slowly, she turned, wondering who it was. It was a guys voice, so she half expected it to be Sam, or even Shane. She squinted in the dark at the figure in front of her, trying to determine who the person was. And when she caught sight of the black leather jacket and the messed up sandy brown hair, she knew who it had to be. But it couldn't be ...

"Derek?"

He walked around to the front of the bench, face lit up now by the streetlight above them. His face was confused, concerned and relieved all at once. She imagined her own face wore about two million expressions right about now, and she couldn't even pinpoint one in her mind. So many thoughts and questions were racing through her mind, and she didn't have a logical answer to any of them.

"Casey?" he asked, now standing in front of her. "Case, where the hell have you_ been? _Dad and Nora came home an hour ago. I got off the phone with you a half an hour before then. It's eleven thirty! Where have you been all this time? Sooking about Max? Because I swear to god, Case, if I had to come up with that cover story and then bust my ass looking for you because you were sitting on this bench moping over Max, I'm going to-"

Derek was cut off when Casey jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him as tight as she could, never wanting to him to leave again. She kissed the top of his head, then each of his cheeks, his forehead, and finally, her lips pressed against his, catching him off gaurd. He stumbled backwards a bit, surprised, but he wrapped his arms around her waist cautiously as she wrenched her lips away from his and buried her face into the space between his shoulder and his neck, crying uncontrollably.

"Are you drunk?" he asked, his eyebrows raised. "Casey, what was ... why are you ... why did you ..."

''Shut up." she said, not pulling away from him or raising her head in the slightest. She thought for a moment. "On second thought, keep talking. I missed your voice."

"You missed my ... Casey, I was talking to you an hour and a half ago." Derek said, not breaking away from him. "Are you sure you aren't drunk? Or high? Possibly both?"

"You're alive ... you're ... you're ..."

"Alright, were you planning on killing me or something?" Derek asked. "Because I have to tell you, you kind of had me worried earlier with that whole ... I wish I never met you thing ..."

Casey panicked and lifted her tear stained face off of his shoulder, looking right into his eyes and clamping one hand over his mouth frantically. She shook her head urgently.

"Shh. There was no wish." she said. "No wish at all. I'd never change things. Never ever. I like you just the way you are ... you're perfect. Do you understand that? I'd never want things to be different."

"Case, uhh ... are you sure you're alright?" Derek asked, studying her suspiciously. He then noticed her tears and softened considerably, reaching up to brush one away. "Hey ... Casey, why are you crying? Is everything okay?"

"Everything is perfect." she whispered, closing her eyes as she hugged him again, unable to believe that she had him in her arms, that he was alive and he was perfectly okay. Her wish had worked. "Everything is totally, amazingly perfect."

"Casey, are you still upset about Max?" he asked, actually sounding guilty. "Because if it's that big of a deal, I can call him and tell him it really was my fault. Not to be nice or anything ... I just don't want you moping around for the next week or two-"

"No, you don't have to do that." she said, shaking her head. "I don't care about Max. I don't want to go out with him, anyway. Not anymore."

"Y-You don't?" Derek asked, looking vaguely hopeful, but she could tell that he didn't believe her. She shook her head again and he eyed her suspiciously. "Casey, what's going on with you? You freaked out at me on the phone earlier and said you wished you had never-"

"Stop talking about the wish!" Casey cried desperately. "There was _no_ wish! Got it?"

"Alright then ..." Derek said slowly, rolling his eyes. "You said that ... _thing_ to me ... and then you don't come home for an hour and a half? And now you're acting so ... well ... un-Casey like. Something happened. You can't lie to me Casey. I know something happened that you're not telling me about."

"Nothing happened." she said, running her hand through his hair. "Nothing at all."

"Alright well ... if you don't mind my asking, why did you kiss me?" Derek asked, voice shaking. "Why are you like ... all over me right now?"

Casey jumped back, detangling herself from him completely. She had been so caught up in getting Derek back that she had completely forgotten about him being her stepbrother in this world, and not her boyfriend. She felt her heart give a painful jolt as she realized there was no her and Derek anymore. No more late night phone calls, no more kisses, no more holding hands. They would go right back to their fighting and their rivalry, just like they had been all along. She tried to keep her tears back as she turned away from Derek.

"It was nothing." she dismissed quietly. "Come on, let's just uh ... go home."

Derek reached out and grabbed her sleeve, preventing her from going any further. He hauled her back towards him and she looked up at him with a hurt expression on her face.

"Casey, what's going on?" he asked, not letting go of her sleeve. "I want you to be honest with me."

"I can't." she stammered. She couldn't tell him how much she liked him. In the alternate universe that she had spent the past two weeks in, she had known Derek's feelings before she had revealed hers. And even if she had been rejected there, she wouldn't have to deal with seeing Derek everyday. But now ... if he rejected her, which he probably would, she'd have to see him everyday at home.

Then her mind travelled back to all the kisses her and Derek had shared. There had been something there, and it had defined how strong their feelings were for each other. How could all of that disappear, with just a tweak in the circumstances? Like she had reminded herself dozens of times in the past two weeks, neither of them were any different in terms of character. The only thing that had changed was the circumstances of their relationship. Maybe Derek really could like her in this world. And there was only one way to find that out.

"I kissed you because I like you." she said, looking him right in the eye. "I like you a lot, and I know that you might not feel the same way about me, but I want you to tell me either way."

Derek was just standing there, staring at her as though he couldn't believe the words that had just come out of her mouth. She was vaguely aware that he had let go of her sleeve. His mouth was hanging open a bit, and he appeared to be trying to say something, but it wasn't coming out. Casey was about to turn and walk away, accepting rejection, when he suddenly reached out and pulled her to him, his lips colliding with hers urgently. His hands were resting on her sides gently, while hers were hanging loosely around his neck. It was like the first kiss all over again, but better. Because this time, Casey knew that it was here to stay. This time, she knew that whatever world she was in, Derek liked her back. At least she hoped he did, and this reaction led her to believe that she was right. Finally, he pulled back, and he was grinning as he brushed his hand against her cheek gently.

"I don't know what the hell happened to you, but I like it." Derek said with a grin. "And I also happen to like you back."

"Well I noticed that." she laughed, as she entwined her fingers with his by their hips. "But I mean, if you like me so much, why are you always such a jerk to me?"

"I don't know, because it was fun?" he suggested, and she smacked him. "Alright, fine. Because I was scared, alright? I knew I wasn't supposed to feel this way, and ... I was afraid that you'd reject me. But that, uh ... that stays between you and me, got it? I don't need people knowing that sort of thing."

"Don't worry, Mr.Venturi." she said with a laugh, tangling her fingers through his hair with her free hand. "Your secret is safe with me."

They were silent for a moment as Derek watched her, waiting for her to say something. When she didn't, he sighed and rolled his eyes.

"You're going to make me ask all the hard questions, aren't you?" he sighed, and she smiled at him. "Alright, fine. If you aren't going to ask it, I will. What does this mean? What are we? Anything?"

"We're definitely something." she agreed, taking both of her hands and letting them hang loosely behind his neck as she grinned up at him. "As long as you want us to be."

"Hey, I'm willing to give it a shot." he said with a shrug, trying to act as though he wasn't excited about all this, when she knew he was. "So, Casey McDonald, will you be my girlfriend?"

Casey's stomach lurched pleasantly as she realized that this was the second time that day that she had been asked that question by Derek. And her answer had definitly not changed in the slightest. Not having to think about it, she nodded.

"Of course I will." she said. "I can't believe you'd even have to ask that. But you're totally paying for our first date, I hope you know that."

"In your dreams, McDonald." he said, leaning down and giving her one more kiss, before lacing his fingers through hers and beginning to walk very slowly in the direction of their house. He swung their hands carelessly as they made their way down the trail, trying to make the walk home last as long as possible. They both knew finding alone time at home was going to be hard.

"So tell me." Derek said, out of nowhere. "What made you decide to tell me all of this tonight? I mean ... I never would have guessed that you felt the same way about me as I do about you."

"Me neither." Casey muttered under her breath, but luckily he never heard it. Raising her voice, she continued. "I don't know, really. I guess I just saw things through a, uh ... a different perspective."

"You're psychotic, you know that, right, McDonald?" he said, glancing down at her. She looked up at him for a moment, ready to hit him for it until she remembered all of the times that he had called her psychotic in the past two weeks. She relaxed again and leaned into his hold, laughing.

"I know." she said, looking up at him with a smile. "Let's keep it that way."

And she planned on it; keeping everything the way it was, that is. She realized now, that she never wanted anything about her life with Derek and the rest of the Venturis to change. She had learned that the grass isn't always greener on the other side. After all, she'd changed her life for what she thought was the better, and it had turned into a nightmare.

But it was over. She had her old life back, and most importantly, she had Derek. And right about now, that was worth more to her than anything else. She would never make a stupid wish like that ever again. Because she knew now that you had to be careful what you wished for. It may just come true. And it may not be what you expected.

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_**The End**_

**I need to have some final notice, but I kept it for the bottom. I want to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, or messaged me about this story. And I really want to say thanks to those of you who offered constructive criticism because it really helps ! Thank you! This was fun :) **

**Expect some more LWD from me, because I've already got another story planned. But this one is FINISHED!**

**Thank you again! **


	25. Authors Note

**Authors Note- There is a sequel to this story entitled A Taste of Perfection and a twoshot fic What Once Was Reality . Both of which are related to this one. To read them, go to my profile :) Thanks!**


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